Easy Floral Hair Comb DIY

This is one of the easiest DIY projects that I've done lately. I love floral things, and of course, hair is sort of my forte... so this was an extra fun one for me! These floral hair combs are a great alternative to the full flower crown. They're perfect for pretty much any occasion, too! You can use almost any size flowers you want. I chose some on the medium side for these combs.

What you will need:

Small/medium artificial flowers

Plain hair combs 

Scissors

Hot glue

1. Start by cutting the stem as close as you can to the flower.

2. Apply hot glue to the bottom of the flower, and stick it to the bar on the comb. 

3. Place a strip of glue from the flower, over the bar, and back to the flower to ensure that it stays on. (I applied the glue quite liberally, but made sure that I didn't get too much on the teeth of the comb.)

4. Repeat those steps until you fill the bar on the comb. That's it! Now run it through your hair and secure it in place. 

 Try not to be too offended by my ridiculously grown out roots. Pregnancy, y'all.

Road Trip (Part 3)

On the last leg of the trip, we made just a couple more stops. We headed south to visit Yellowstone National Park. It was so awesome! Way cooler than I even anticipated. The hot springs were my favorite part. They were all different colors and sizes, and there were hundreds of them! One of the springs was called the Grand Prismatic Spring. It was sooo rainbowwww! The water was crystal clear and the colors were so vivid! I really wish the water wasn't scalding hot because I really wanted to dive in and swim around. All of the pools were steaming hot and some of them were even boiling!

After we left Yellowstone, we traveled further south, through Denver and into Santa Fe. I've been in New Mexico before, but never Santa Fe specifically. It was such a pretty little town! We walked through the downtown area and ate at a great restaurant called The Pink Adobe. I highly recommend it if you ever visit. After eating, we decided that we were going to drive to Amarillo, TX and stop for the night. When we finally got there, we found out that there wasn't a single hotel with any vacancies. There weren't even any in surrounding towns! So Mary Meghan and Josh (who were swapping out driving duties that night) ended up driving through the night. At six in the morning, they finally found an open room at a hotel in Oklahoma. So, we stayed there and slept for a few hours before completing the rest of the journey and returning home. 

As I mentioned in part one of my massive road trip post, this was the kind of trip I've always wanted to go on. Though it was incredibly exhausting for my preggo self, it was one of the best trips I've been on. I'm so glad we were able to go and experience new and fun things.

Road Trip (Part 2)

When we finally got to Washington, we drove to Seattle to spend a day exploring the city. It was a really fun and interesting place! We found the famous and disgusting gum wall...or alley (the walls on both sides of the alley were covered in chewed up gum). It was so gross and smelled really bad! I didn't get very close to the wall, much less, add any gum to it. I did see a little girl do something terrible, though. I watched as she walked up to the wall and slapped both hands onto it and ran them down, feeling all of the gum pieces. I thought to myself, "Noooo, tiny girl! Whyyyy???!". Barf.

We also took a stroll through and around the Public Market. We watched guys throw a giant fish back and forth to each other, saw some people making fancy cheeses, and sampled pieces of chocolate pasta! 

After Seattle, we headed to Yakima, where Cody and Josh were going to film a documentary style video for one of Mabus Agency's clients. This part of the trip was really weird to me because the terrain changes so drastically from one side of the mountains to the other. If you're from there, you know what I'm talking about. The Seattle side is lush, green mountains, and the Yakima side is scorching hot desert. The mountains were beautiful, but very scary to drive through. As I said in the last post, I really don't like heights. It doesn't help much, either, when the winding road doesn't have any railing in some of the highest points. I could just look out of the window and see straight down the mountain side! Barf again.

The desert side was very hot. Like, 100+ degrees hot. There wasn't a whole lot out there either... just some hills and crunchy plants. It was pretty in its own way though. We stayed in Yakima for about three days for the work portion of the trip - the real reason we went out there. It was fun and we met some interesting people. 

After shooting on the second day, we decided to take a dip in the nearby river. Little did we know, the river ran straight off of those snow capped mountains we drove through a couple days before. It. Was. Freezing!! I waded in until the water was up to my thighs when I decided I couldn't handle going in any further. After several minutes, though, my legs went numb and I was good to stay in. Imagine walking through three feet of snow in your swim suit. That's what it was like. Maybe you've done that before, maybe you do that regularly, maybe you're crazy. I like being cold about as much as I like heights. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that adventure, but I wanted to share the story anyway.

If you have ever been to Seattle, what were some of your favorite places or areas to hang out?

Road Trip (Part 1)

This is the kind of trip I never really thought I'd go on. I've always wanted to take a road trip across the country. So, I was beyond excited when Cody told me I'd be able to go and help out! The actual reason for this cross-country venture was to shoot a documentary style video in Yakima Valley, WA for a client of the Mabus Agency. The trip took ten days and we traveled a total of 6,250 miles! Yes, that's a whole lot of driving, but we definitely made tons of stops along the way. This post is for the first three days that we drove up to Washington.

Not a lot happened between Mississippi and South Dakota. There just isn't really any reason to stop... at least not on the route we took. Once we got to South Dakota, though, we made a couple stops. One being in the awesome (and scary if you're afraid of heights) Badlands. The road basically led us to the top at first, so we got out and walked across an extremely narrow rock path to peer down the cliff. Heights just aren't my cup of tea. I tried not to think about it and just walk quickly across, look down, take some pictures, and get back on safe ground! Then, as we continued down the road, it took us into the rocks where we could climb around and it wasn't so scary.

After driving a little ways further in South Dakota, we visited Mt. Rushmore. It had just rained which made the presidents look like they were crying or had some major allergy problems. 

After South Dakota, we traveled into Wyoming and made a quick stop at this crazy looking rock formation called Devil's Tower. It's about a million miles high and just completely, randomly in the middle of nowhere. I'd like to see someone climb that! Actually, I think some really do. Crazy people. 

That sunset! Oh my. It doesn't get much prettier than that.

We crossed a couple more state lines on the third day before finally getting to Washington. Our plan was to spend most of the fourth day exploring Seattle before driving to Yakima that night. More on that in the next post.

These really awesome, old trucks were in some small town outside of Spokane, I think. I can't remember what town, but they were too neat to pass up. This area of Washington and some of Idaho seemed to go back in time. Not just with the trucks, but with clothing styles and music, too. We even saw groups of people playing hacky sack! I had no idea that still existed, but kudos to those who are keeping it alive! 

I can't wait to show Baby Hickman these pictures and tell him/her the story one day. I hope he/she cares and thinks I'm cool.

Link Love

I've been so exhausted lately. The little fetus is sucking up all of my energy, hence the lack of regular posting. I have been doing some blog surfing on my downtime this week though, and I've found some awesome links to share! Some are for mommies-to-be and some are for not-mommies-to-be. Enjoy!

1. Introducing Eyeshadow School. Day One: The Rules - MaskCara

Being a makeup artist myself, I've heard the same things about eyeshadow that Cara has. It seems like one of the easiest parts of makeup to apply, but I suppose that doesn't go for everyone. We're all good at different things. If eyeshadow is not your strong suit, this post introduces you to a couple rules and several great tips!

2. Cut It Out - Delightfully Tacky

Oh man, this dress! I loooove the fit and the little cut outs. Her style is always fabulous. I'm a regular visitor to Elizabeth's blog, mostly to envy her wildly textured hair. 

3. Barely There Waves - Confessions of a Hairstylist

My girl, Jenny, has another awesome hairstyle tutorial inspired by my other girls, MaryKate and Ashley. It's a very easy way to add a little texture, especially for straight/fine hair! Be sure to subscribe to her YouTube page for more awesome tutorials!

4. Most Popular Pregnancy & Baby Apps - Pregnant Chicken

I've downloaded all of these (and a few more) apps, and they're all really great. I like reading about the weekly growth progression of my little critter and what changes to expect with my body. These apps are loaded with information and tips to having a healthy pregnancy. Also, some of them help you track feedings and diaper changes when baby arrives! That will definitely be helpful to me because I'm extremely forgetful and will have a hard time keeping up with some of that.

5. What To Eat For a Healthy Pregnancy and An Easy Birth - Dani Stout | Holistic Health Coach

So far, I've had pretty awful morning sickness...all day...every day. It has just become a chore to eat. Even if I have a craving for something, by the time I eat half of it, I get sick. Bleh. It's no fun, but I'm praying it won't last much longer. I say all of that to say this... Right now, I eat what I can when I can, and it's not always healthy. However, once the sickness passes and I don't hate everything, I fully plan on sticking to a healthier diet. Today, I ran across this blog post while perusing Pinterest, and it has some great advice on having a healthy diet before and during pregnancy!

1 + 1 = 3

That's right! We're expecting tiny Baby Hickman in February!! I couldn't keep it a secret any longer, so I finally decided to share the news with everyone. We're definitely beyond excited and just a little bit freaked out... as all new parents-to-be are. Obviously though, we really couldn't be happier to start our own little family. Baby Hickman's gender is unknown right now, but we'll be finding out in just a few weeks. I cannot wait! 

My dear friend, Mary Meghan took these photos. Check out her work HERE.