high tops and hair dye

i once updated my facebook status, 'there's therapy in hair dye' sorta as a joke. on the surface, it is. ah, but it never stops there, does it?

there are a handful of you that know parts of my past. i'd like to keep it there for the most part, but thought i would let some of the crap that's been surfacing take some air. it's practically begging to breathe anyway. (no matter how much time passes, there's always side effects, huh? stuff just bubbles up at the most random times...) 

once upon a time there was this boy who married me. and then he made my life terrible. long, natural brown hair pulled back into a bun without makeup wearing flowing sundresses in the kitchen while barefoot was the look to achieve to please this boy. dress like a lady, and low top converse is as punk as we get around here. at risk of who knows what happening, i succumbed to the drabness. 

well like you would have guessed, that didn't solve anything. 

throw in a bunch of other problems, fast forward and naomi is left alone feeling like an empty corpse. it felt strange to be in my own company. i didn't really know who i was and being there alone with ME was a little unsettling. how could one person take away the very core of who i am? not only did i lose this man, i also lost every single fiber of who i was. i used to like my old self. and now she's gone too. 

while i waited for my heart to heal, i did what i could to pick back up where i left off BEFORE all this happened. i started with the little things. so on the computer i went. i visited the converse all star website where you could create your own custom made shoes. so naturally, i skipped past the low top option and went for the extra high top option. i put skulls on them and had 'naomi rose' embroidered on the sides, just so i was sure i'd remember who i was. that sounds really stupid. but you do what you gotta do sometimes. i asked no one how much money was too much money to spend on a pair of shoes…i bought those pricey things like it was pocket change. 

and then the hair. oh the hair. it changes so often, how does one keep up? every time i color or chop away at it, i have a little peace come over me. that sounds so shallow to say that i find peace in my hair. but here's to being honest. he isn't here anymore. every brushstroke of hair color is a reminder of that. and as i sit there while it processes, i'm grateful for every minute that passes that i'm living in colorful rebellion. everytime i put those shoes on, i walk with a little spring in my step knowing he'd hate them. 

i thank the lord above for giving me strength to get thru the shit that life deals out. i thank him for giving me good friends and family to stand by me. but sometimes it's the little things in life that need proper mention. 

i am thankful for obnoxious hairstyles and punk rock footwear for reminding myself who i am and helping me rebel against what he wanted me to be. 

end.   

Meatloaf Cupcakes!

Most of the time meatloaf is really quite drab. Well you're in luck. Because I have a recipe that tastes like awesome. AND to make it even cooler, it's in the form of a cupcake. 

I know...you're welcome.

Here's what you need to make it look cool:

• Reynolds^® Foil Baking Cups - You should really use the foil ones, otherwise the paper cups will stick to your meat...that not only sounds gross, it also is no good for taste. 

• A cake decorating bag...or like a frosting bag...whatever they're called. PLUS you'll need a tip that has a big hole. This is for the mashed potato frosting! I suppose you could probably use a big gallon sized ziplock bag with the corner cut out of it. 

• Peas!

Here's what you need for the meatloaf:

• 1 egg

• 3/4 cup milk

• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

• 1/2 cup quick oats

• 1/2 cup chopped onion (I prefer to use a TBS of minced onions...it's easier)

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 lb of ground beef

Mix that all up and thennnn:

In a separate bowl, mix

• 2/3 cup ketchup

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1 tsp mustard

Save this mixture for a little later

• Now, take a spoon and plop some meatloaf mixture into your cupcake foils. Fill them almost to the top. 

• Next, take the end of a mixing spoon, or a clean finger, and stab holes into the meatloaf. This is making little reservoirs for the ketchup/brown sugar mixture. Yum.

• Take the ketchup/brown sugar mixture and drizzle the meatloaf, hitting the holes you just poked. Don't use up alll of your mixture, because you need some of it for the 'frosting' later. Well, you could always make more, I guess...no big deal.

• Shove the meatloaf into the oven at 350° for about 45 minutes or so. But my oven is really crappy. So you should probably check them every 20 minutes just to make sure. You'll know they're done when it looks like cooked hamburger in the middle. 

While the meatloaf is cooking:

Make your mashed potatoes! My spousal unit makes the best mashed potatoes in the world. Challenge him, and you will weep in a losing fit. He puts cheese and sour cream and garlic and milk and stuff in it. <--that's his official recipe. (what...that's as good as I could get outta him.) 

Oh my goodness! Now comes the fun part!

Now that your meatloaf and mashed potatoes are done:

• Take your taters and put them in your cake decorating bag. 

• Make a swirl with the potatoes like the picture shown...or however you feel like doing it.

• Scatter some peas on the mashed potato frosting like you would sprinkles. Depending on how stiff your spuds are, you might have to kind of place the peas on one at a time to get them to stay put. That's what I had to do. 

• Warm up the remaining ketchup/brown sugar mixture and drizzle it on top of the mashed potatoes and peas kind of like a chocolate drizzle. 

• Stuff your face.

This makes awesome leftovers. I always thought lasagna is better the second time around. Meatloaf is pretty good twice baked too. 

My new floor

This is my new kitchen floor. It's a little more teal in real life...but this picture was too cute not to use. This is my 1 year old American baby Bulldog, Doodah. 

Hair

My friend, Lindsey, came over and did my makeup. I hardly ever do much with my face, mostly because I don't know what to do. So we decided that wearing this much makeup was worth a mini photo shoot. 

My Monster Mailbox

I hate getting bills in the mail. So I decided to make it a little more fun. 

Here's my old white rusty mailbox about to be given a makeover so drastic, 

even the mailman himself might not recognize it.

I found a big bouncy ball at Target and sliced it in half to make his eyes:

 

You see that blue swirl to the right of the picture? That is a plastic placemat that I painted and cut out. It became the tail.

A glob of clay was formed into his nose. My dog, Doodah, approved. 

The placemat also served as the ears. I spray painted a few clear coats on him, and waited for the postman. 

Brown and Blue

Thought I'd post a picture of my new blue hair. It's darker blue/teal now, but this color is cool too.

Ooh Heaven is a Place on Earth - if you want it to be.

I've never been one to complain…-who am I kidding? That was a lie. 

I'm sick of winter. So sick of winter. We haven't even had it too terribly hard, really. We've only had a couple weeks of snow and cold. But dude, I was done with it before the first beautiful unique snowflake hit the dirty pavement. 

All I can think about in temperatures like this are all the things I'd rather be doing. 

I have a little clip running through my head of the perfect day sans snow. It involves being somewhere warm and mountainous. I want to be in an El Camino with a sunroof. I want a route 44 strawberry limeade from Sonic in the cup holder. I want the radio playing MGMT's "Kids" while I wind up and down one of those roads that hug the side of a cliff with the ocean waiting to catch me if I fall off. 

Later, I will park on the side of the road and make sand angles on an uninhabited beach and build a bonfire. I'll roast hotdogs and then make an a-frame tent out of long sticks that I find-along with the cozy blankets I keep in the back of the car for times such as these. There will be stars. And I will fall asleep to crickets and bullfrogs. 

Sometimes I hope Heaven will be just like Earth only cleaner and friendlier. Because something like this is something I could peg as Heavenly.

What's your Heaven on Earth?