#Monthly Mani - Winter Wonderland

Two exciting new things for the blog, my friends!

First:  Go like my new Facebook page - Being Mrs. Olson Blog.  We will be doing a fun giveaway when we reach 250 likes!

Second:  I am joining the #MonthlyMani crew for a new linkup party!

So here we go!

If you've seen me at all in the past few years, you've probably seen my nails painted.  They may be a bit chippy at times, but they usually have color.  I told myself a few years back that I would ALWAYS have my toenails painted and try to have my fingers done as well. 

By "done", I mean painted by myself.  For special events, I will sometimes treat myself to a REAL manicure, but I generally do it pretty well at home.  Which is why the #MonthlyMani linkup is perfect for me!  I am joining along with a few other ladies who have been doing this for a while.  It will give me an opportunity to be a bit more creative and also a great reason to invest in some great polishes and adornments. 

I am pretty excited, but didn't go too crazy this month.  I was recently reminded about my grey nail polish I bought while I was in Norway.  Though you might not think of grey as being "in the holiday spirit", it looks great with some gold glitter! 

This way, my nails can go along with anything I am wearing.  I really love this grey color for any season and tend to get a lot of compliments on it.  With the large gold glitter as an accent, I'm ready for ANY holiday.  But especially Christmas, because it's my hubby's birthday!

Polishes include Black Poppy in Gold, Sinful Colors clear coat, and H&M Nail Polish in Miss Stone Hart.  I like this clear coat, but make sure your colored polish is VERY dry before you use it.  It tends to do a bit of stripping and some color can stick to the brush.  If you look closely, you can see some red residue on my left pinky from the color I put on my toes.


Lexy and I's new rings...polish highlights the gold!

For my first #MonthlyMani, I have to give a shout out to my mom.  When I was younger, she refused to paint my right hand for me (I'm right handed) so that I would get practice and get better at it.  To this day, I paint my right hand better than anyone I know.  Thanks for being a meanie, mom.  Now I'm great at doing my own nails!  I can also thank her for my long, strong nails.  I am lucky!

Check out my thoughts on Sinful Colors Nail Polish and Shellac Manicures.

Also, check out my fellow gals posting today for our holiday manicures!

Kristi from Delightfully Kristi

Piniel from Pins-Place

Justine from The Thrifty Girl's Guide

Kate from Into the Stratosphere

Miche from Buttons and Birdcages

Jacki and Lesli from Sistas from Cali

Erika from Erika’s Style Diary

Marlena from Here, Pretty Kitty

 

Review of: The Theory of Everything

This past weekend, I had a movie date (among other things, more on that soon) while visiting a friend in Charleston, SC.  It was a rainy, cold night, so we walked across the street and decided to see The Theory of Everything.  I had seen a few previews and was intrigued more so than anything else at the theater.  Holy moly, did we make the right decision!

IN SHORT:

1.  Go with a friend.
2.  Bring your tissues.
3.  SEE THIS MOVIE!

The movie tells the love story of Stephen and Jane Hawking based on a book she wrote about her life with him.  I didn't know too much about Stephen Hawking other than that he is a genius and is in a wheelchair.  I now have a greater understanding of just how smart he is, and also the effects of diseases like ALS. 

He is diagnosed with a motor neuron disease related to ALS (hello, Ice Bucket Challenge) at the age of 21 while he is dominating his life in college.  Given two years to live, he sets out to accomplish as much as possible.  And Jane holds on for the ride.  Actually, more like steers the ride.

The movie is absolutely gripping and by the time it was over (123 minutes), I felt like I was taking my first breath in hours.  I literally had to not talk and stretch my muscles immediately after the movie.  I needed a minute to calm down.  You will find yourself adjusting your position to take in all of the emotion. By no means will you want to walk away or take a break.  I was totally enthralled with their life, family, accomplishments, struggles, and once again, his intelligence.

But this movie IS NOT SOME SAPPY LOVE STORY made for ladies only.  Any guy would easily enjoy this movie.  I am trying to decide if I have it in me to go see it with my husband...that's how emotional it was.  It is on par with my feelings about the movie The Pianist (review written in 2013).  These movies are both dramatic, stunning, and beautifully written and performed. 

The main actors (Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones) were fabulous.  Although I had not seen them in other films recently, I felt like they were actors that I had loved for years.  They are going to take over during awards season.  Mark my words...this film will clean house.  Actually, after a Google search, they just received four Golden Globe nominations.  Go team! 

This is definitely one of the best movies I've seen all year.  (And we have been watching a lot of movies.) 

My advice:  whether you like or dislike science, biopics, England...what have you...GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!

Thanksgiving in Texas

This Thanksgiving, we stayed put at our place in Texas and enjoyed the holiday a little differently.  We did not have family in town and did not do any friendsgivings.  We enjoyed four lovely days by ourselves doing whatever our little hearts desired, whenever we desired it.  It was sort of fantastic. 

I am a family lover.  I absolutely love spending time with family and eating great food and snuggling in a warm, cozy house.  But sometimes, I feel that holidays become so much of a stressful hoopla that you forget to take time to relax and take in the love of your family.  You're worried about the food being perfect, the décor sitting just right, someone shows up late, the other person is a jerk, the in-laws, the weather, BLAH BLAH! 

So we did our own thing.  Thursday (and most days) consisted of sleeping in, making breakfast and eating it in bed, and loving up on our Lola bunny.  We had our Thanksgiving meal at Marie Callender's and snuck in to Old Navy (which opened at 4) while our name was on the list for dinner.  I'm not a Black Friday shopper, but I did find a few things 50% off at Old Navy while we waited.  My favorite is a chunky knit scarf that I wear almost every night around the house to keep cozy. 

Friday evening we loaded up our bikes and brought them downtown.  Austin has this huge trail around the "lake" (it's a river) on the edge of downtown and it is a popular place for exercise.  We parked in my garage (my job is marked by the black arrow below if you're interested), entered the trail at the red arrow on the right, rode west to the highway, and rode back on the south side of the river.  I think it was just under five miles, the weather was perfect, and we really enjoyed our little adventure. 

Logically, we followed up the exercise with an ice cream trip.  We tried out a funky place called Lick that is known for their unique texture and interesting flavors.  The most interesting was chocolate with olive oil and sea salt.  I love trying fun new things!  Speaking of....

 

 

We ordered a fancy blender/processor a bit ago and it arrived over our break.  We decided to put it to the highest test and make our own peanut butter.  Although it was a bit of a pain to clean up afterward, it turned out great.  We made a decent sized jar of peanut butter for less than $2.50.  And it tastes great!  I would recommend giving it a try.  Since then, our blender has become a favorite for healthy smoothies and hopefully some soups, too!

 

Saturday evening we tried out this new "boutique roadhouse" that opened up on the main road near our place.  We are pretty far south in Austin and sometimes it feels like there is nothing to do down there.  Except ride our bikes around the neighborhoods...  So we bucked up and checked this new place out.  It is a small joint, eclectically decorated and has great outdoor space. We posted up in conjoined Adirondack chairs and enjoyed people watching in the back yard before checking out the bands inside.  It was a fun little night out for us, topped off with some McD's French fries! 

 

 

Other highlights of the weekend included games, decorating for Christmas, fresh tamales from a local shop, and lots of cuddles and movies.  We really enjoyed our weekend and our holiday.  Here's to Christmas being two weeks away and another four days to spend with my fantastic husband!  We have been traveling a lot lately and I'm looking forward to more time at home with Lola, great food, and making new memories.  It's almost 2015 people!