Chronicles of Crystal

Noodles with the Guinns

2012-02-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

Did I mention I love to go out to eat?

This time Morgan was working late so I grabbed dinner with the Guinns at Noodles & Co. or "Noodles and Comp" as Lauren likes to say.

Sav just sat in her car seat the entire time. She loves people watching just like her momma.

Fashion Friday: Pink & Red and....Nude!

2012-02-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

No pun intended. Maybe.

With Valentine's Day in like t minus 4 days I can't get pink and red off the brain. I am loving the outfits I am seeing all over pinterest in these festive hues. I think the key is keeping it simple...by pairing it with easy breezy makeup, breaking it up with nudes and neutrals, and no/minimal patterns. Otherwise it could easily look a bit cheesy.

Here is my inspiration:

1. Urban Outfitters: $29.99 2. Gap: $59.95 3. Forever21: $15.50

4. Michael Khors: $195 5. Lucky Brand: $39.99

Let's be real. My days are spent running after my 10 month old, changing diapers, going grocery shopping, going to lunch to chic-fil-a...so something comfy yet stylish is usually what I go for. Oh, and on a budget of course. 15 dollar jeans? Can't beat that. Plus, it's not like Morgan and I will be going on a V-day date to some place that requires a dress code. But if we were (hint hint ;) ), I would be glad to take off the sweater, trade my flats for heels and throw on THIS! Bam! But really no because that necklace is like a bajillion dollars.

My nighttime routine & some other secrets

2012-02-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

So I thought I would share my nighttime routine here on the bloggage.

I LOVE hearing what other people do so I'm sure some of you may find my routine interesting.

First I get my whole face wet to loosen up my makeup. Then I use coconut oil on my fingers and gently swipe over the eyes as my eye makeup remover. Then I wipe it off clean with cotton balls or if I'm out I use toilet paper. The makeup comes off super easily, no scrubbing needed and my eyes are left super moisturized. The coconut oil picture below is the exact one I have and I got it from Good Earth on sale.

Then I clean my entire face with Burt's Bees deep cleansing cream. It is all natural with no harsh chemicals. Since using this stuff I have had no breakouts. Seriously it cleans my face so well. It just gets rid of any and all makeup on my face. I just rub it around, avoiding the eyes, and rinse clean. Then, I pat with a clean dry face towel, a towel that I set aside for my face only. I am prone to acne and I am anal about what touches my face. My towel is white and after drying there is never any makeup that comes off on it after cleaning with the Burt's Bees stuff. I am a bronzer user and before this stuff, my towel would have brown patches all over it after washing my face...I hated that.

Then I use my clean dry hands and rub coconut oil all over my body and face. Yes, my face. It is a natural antibacterial and anti-aging oil and some people swear that it gets rid of their acne. I love the coconut oil. I don't think of myself as one of those green granola people but I do like to be healthy and I like stuff that works...and this stuff is magic. It is so so moisturizing. If my hair is getting dry (which it almost always is) I put coconut oil on my hair at night as a mask and in the morning I wash and style and will have super soft and shiny hair.

Finally, if there are any dry patches, which usually there are because if you know me then you know that I am the dryest person on the planet. Not really, but sometimes. I will rub a tiny bit of vaseline on those dry patches and on my feet and put socks on. Or sometimes if I am in a hurry I skip this step. So some nights I only use two products! (excluding brushing the teeth)

As you can tell, I am all for the natural stuff. And I use coconut oil in like a bunch of different ways (eye makeup remover, night cream, body lotion, hair mask...) Saves money and works really well.

Some other little things I do:

-I use Victoria's Secret The Hand Cream. (I couldn't find it on their site but I know they sell it in their stores.) It is only thing that has worked on my hands. I usually have really dry rough hands with cracks and I could just put on vaseline but I don't want to run around with greasy sticky hands. This stuff is not greasy at all but makes my hands feel like silk.

-I take a prenatal vitamin. I know I take it because I am still nursing but I will probably continue to take it after I stop because it has made my hair so long and maybe another contributor to my clear skin?

-I hardly ever buy razors. And when I do I buy men's brands (they get a closer shave). And THEN I use THIS trick to make the razors last like forever... oh and yeah that video is a little creepery.

-I exfoliate with straight up sugar from the pantry. I just add it to my soap on my hand in the shower or to my face wash if I am exfoliating my face (about a couple times a week).

-I used to have a really really bad underarm sweating problem. Like I could not raise my arms without sweat marks, embarrassing and possibly tmi. But certain dri saved my life. I can workout and NO wetness under there at all... I think the stuff may have killed my sweat glands down there but good riddance! I don't even have to think about it anymore.
-I use THIS sunscreen pretty much everyday on my face, chest and hands to prevent those wrinks.

Aaaand that's about it!

What's your nighttime routine? Any secrets I should know?

Life Lately

2012-02-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I went grocery shopping and when I got home I was starving (never go to the grocery store hungry is what my husband always says) so I made myself a bowl of cheerios that I bought that day and when I went to put the box up it fell and and I quickly went to catch it and once I caught it I realized it was upside down and cheerios were just pouring out so fast that by the time I was able to turn it around...no more cheerios were left in the box. The best part was Savannah in the other room crawling like a crazy person towards the cheerio mess on the floor. She was so excited. She was making like huffing and puffing noises just booking it to the cheerio goodness and once she made it she was stuffing handfuls into her mouth. It was lunch time.

That was the highlight of my day if you can believe it. Honestly, most days aren't even that exciting.

Motherhood is truly an adventure. Like middle of the night baby crying adventures, teething adventures, adventures of church going...and to add to the list, cheerio spill adventure.

Last week we adventured...ventured...out to Provo Beach Resort with my friend Hannah. While we were there Savannah got her first experience on the carousel. The whole time on the ride she was shaking a little and was holding on so tight to the bar and her eyes were just so wide and alert. My girl was a little scared yes. But she braved through it with momma by her side.

^blurrrry yikes

Y Ball

2012-02-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

So my amazing sister, Lauren, and her husband were on the committee for BYU's "Y Ball". So Morgan and I got all dolled up and went out for the night baby free! Lauren and Chris did such a good job planning. There was dinner, dancing, magicians, photobooth, bingo, cake walk (with sweet tooth fairy cake bites), even crazy contortionists......

I think Morgan may need a little coaching in the facials department. Maybe he's going for the creeper look?... love ya morgan! ;)

(Pics courtesy of Lauren)

We had such a fun time with these too just dancing and being silly. What a blast! Love them.

Fashion Friday

2012-02-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

So hear me out.

I have never considered this blog a fashion blog but I love clothes, making trends work for me, finding looks on a budget, putting outfits together....fashion! What girl doesn't. So I thought I would write once a week about something that I really love. I think it'll be fun. So I thought I would join in on what some other bloggers call "Fashion Friday".

Here we go!

I have been loving the trends for this coming Spring.

I am talking pastel jeans, buttoned up collars, bold stripes and dots, bright colors & neutrals, nerdy glasses, leopard and colored belts, denim tops. Preppy, quirky, and oh so cool.

The following picture vomit is my inspiration for what I am digging for this Spring. Well, right now actually.

Everyone and their dog has either pinned or blogged this above madewell look. I have now done both.

So here is how I "wore" this look. Wore because I will definitely still be wearing this look this year.

Denim Shirt: Target, Sweater: Old Navy, Belt: NY & CO., White Jeans: Gap
yes, you can wear white jeans in the winter!

If you like Fashion Friday let me know and I will keep it up!

On Sunday

2012-02-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we didn't know what time our church met so we crashed another ward. It was a young married ward. Child population: 3, including Savannah. I don't know why that part is relevant but whatever. I had planned me and Savannah's outfits the night before preparing for some good first impressions at our new ward but since that fell through I was debating whether I should save our outfits for next week or choose something different for next week or outfit repeat?? Too much thought was put into this unimportant matter as you can tell. But we have all had this minor dilemma in one form or another, right? Right.

Anyhoo, we went to church and the next sacrament meeting wasn't for thirty minutes so we just hung out in the chapel til then. So for about thirty minutes we sat in the chapel. Alone. Savvy just talking away, listening to her own voice echo and I decide to whip out my phone for a mini photo shoot.

And that's my story.

Anti-climactic much? I'd say so.

One of these days I will have pictures up here that aren't from my iphone or, more specifically, my instagram.

Pizza Night

2012-02-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

We usually have "Pizza Night" once a week, typically a Friday, so this past weekend instead of our usual grocery store bought CPK bbq chicken pizza we decided to go out to Slab here in Provo. Again, we moved to Provo and did I mention we are living in my sister's home while she is off with her family in Chile living the dream life? You can read about it HERE. Amazing, am I right?

No joke, that girl is all smiles.

So Morgan and I like to match when we go out sometimes. I don't hate it!

January Photo A Day

2012-02-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

Do you instagram? I do. And I love it. You can just ask my husband, I love pictures. I love looking at pictures and taking pictures so instagram is my match made in iphone application heaven.

This past month I participated in the January Photo A Day Challenge. And I thought I would share on my bloggage all of my pics from the past month from the challenge. We are talking picture overload here.

Enjoy!

Phew! What a month! So excited for February's Challenge:

Follow me on instagram @crystalgilliam

I'm Still Here

2012-01-31T20:22:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the absence. Life has been a bit crazy...actually I don't even think I can really use that as an excuse. I just didn't want to blog. I wanted a break. So there. But now I am back and happy to be back.

We have moved down to Provo for the next 6 ish months and loving it.

On to more important news: Savannah is ten months and time is flying by way way way too fast. I can't take it. I am trying to soak up every single minute of her little babyness. I'm so ridiculously in love.

Facts about Savannah:

-She loves all types of food, all but those that are colored green

-She is becoming quite the snuggle bug

-She likes to crawl and hang on momma like in the pic above

-Her favorite toys are books and stuffed animals, especially her bunny who she snuggles and kisses

-She LOVES her aunts. She kisses their faces on facetime and smiles so big around them

-She has an awesome sense of humor and laughs a lot
-Still sucks her thumb anytime she holds her blankie and she has to hold the silky part of her blankie
-She points to everything with her tiny finger

-She understands the following words: food, water, bunny, momma, dadda, clap, dance, milk, nurse, all done, blankie. That's all that I know she knows, maybe she knows more, who knows! (that's a lot of knows)

-She jibber jabbers constantly. I think she thinks she makes sense. Sometimes she will babble for a while and then giggle as if she said a little joke.

-She likes to pull herself up in standing position and is getting pretty good with her walker

-She likes to be tickled

-She always claps and dances (moves head and arms/hands) anytime music comes on or whenever momma sings :) love that

-Final fact: she has completely stolen the hearts of her parents and we could not be happier

I have a great hub. I came down to this special note the other morning...

Thanks for tuning in!

facetime

2012-01-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

I know Shannon might kill me for putting this up but I just can't stand how cute this pic is of Savannah and her aunt Shannon smiling at each other so big during facetime!

Savannah kissed that face so many times.... she loves her aunt Shannon.

Snapshots from 2011

2012-01-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

Here are my favorite moments, memories and pictures from 2011....

Enjoy!

January

Girls nights with Bethesda and Potomac ladies

February

Valentine's Day at Clyde's and my baby shower

March

The picture says it all. This was more like the highlight of the entire year not just of March.

April

April was kind of a blurr. I don't even think I left the house. It was a lot of me and baby time and cleaning up projectile vomit as pictured above.

May

Savannah's blessing day

June

Father's Day and time spent outside

July

A trip to Utah to visit Dayna and some pool time!

August

Deep Creek and some more pool time!

September

Taylor Swift and Lauren's Wedding

October

Barnyard and Halloween

November

Trip home, my birthday, and Thanksgiving at Tucanos with the Lukers

December

Christmas with Morgan's family

2011 was such a wild ride. I am super excited for 2012 and all that it will bring!

Matching Daddy

2012-01-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

The weekend of New Year's, Morgan had to work a tournament so we went to visit him and Morgan got to see Savannah dressed in her new puma soccer warm-up (perfect for the occasion) that her Nana bought her earlier that day.

Maybe this little girlie will love Soccer as much as her Daddy. But no way will she ever love it as much as we love her! ;) (you cheesy momma you)

A New Year's Celebration

2012-01-05T14:04:00.000-08:00

That face just kills me^

We spent this New Year's Eve at Morgan's sister's in-laws, the Oman's. They have us over a couple times a year and every time we go down there we have so much fun! The Oman's are all about card games. We played progressive rummy and I won! So of course I had a fun night. I am very competitive ha!

I don't even know how I made that face. One eye crossed? creepy.

This little girl is mucho adorable and cracks me up.

The game was so long we played until midnight and then we went outside and lit the sparklers Morgan and I brought.

It looks like I am a sorcerer or something in this pic. Likey-like.

Here's to a fabulous new year! May you be as kind and generous as the last year.

Chuck E. Cheese's

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Over the break (if you can even call it that because Morgan still had to work and I never get a real break from motherhood) we went to Chuck E. Cheese's with the fam. It was such a blast seeing my little niece and nephew playing the games and collecting tickets, even Savannah was loving all of the hustle and bustle. And us big kids got in on the action with speed racing and skee-ball to name a few.

I have many memories of this place as a child. Growing up when my parents would go out of town, our housekeeper Carmen (my second mom) would stay at our house overnight to watch us and would always take us to Chuck E. Cheese's. It was always such a treat. It was fun reliving those childhood memories.

Although I must admit as a child, Chuck E. Cheese's was way more magical and now It seems a bit more well...cheesy and dirty, at least the one in Orem. But not to crush my childhood memories, we had so much fun there nonetheless.

This last pic just cracks me up. It was nap time.

Christmas Morning

2012-01-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning was spent at Morgan's brother's home. We had breakfast, opened presents, went to church, hung out, and had a delicious Christmas meal for lunner.

Savannah loves her Nana. And she especially loves the Christmas dress Nana got for her.

And that's a wrap for the Christmas posts.

Christmas Weekend in Park City

2012-01-02T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Friday before Christmas, we packed our bags and headed out with Morgan's family to the Park City resort where we had a slumber party at the Mountainside Marriott. We spent Friday and Saturday relaxing, playing Apples to Apples, walking around the ski resort, walking around main street, snuggling with Savannah, eating, shopping/ window shopping (we made a stop at the outlets), talking, laughing, etc. etc.

Such a great start to my favorite holiday.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-27T20:06:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Ours was just delightful.

We have been spending the past week with Morgan's family and have been enjoying every minute of it.

Savannah had an especially great Christmas because it was her FIRST and she was SPOILED!

A wedding

2011-12-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, we went to a fancy wedding in Salt Lake for Dallin and Kayla Bills. I wish I got a picture of the newlyweds because they are seriously a model couple. Savannah had the time of her life watching other kids run around and dancing with her parents and getting lots of love and attention from friends.

This week Morgan's family is coming to town and we will be spending most of the weekend in Park City and then at Morgan's brother's for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Sick

2011-12-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Today we are sick. Posts to come soon. But for now. Sleep.

Date night in Salt Lake

2011-12-15T10:18:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday we were lucky to have Morgan's brother and his wife come over to watch Savannah while we went out on a date. Yipee!

We went to Sicilia Pizza for dinner in Salt Lake and afterwards went to The Savior Of the World at the Conference Center Theatre.

The best pizza I have ever had in my life has been white sauce pizza from Sicilia. I used to eat there for lunch when I worked at the Marriott City Center and this was my first ime going back since then. What a treat!

My handsome man getting distracted by the tv... sports must be on.

YUM!

We weren't allowed to bring our camera into the conference center performance but we did snap some pictures afterwards with my phone.

Gotta love temple square Christmas Lights! Hope your Christmas season is merry and bright!

Thoughts of Savannah on a Sunday

2011-12-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

Today Savannah and I stayed home from church while Dad went and received blessings for us, since that's how it works obviously, because Savannah is sick.

She has the dreaded whooping cough or pertussis as some would say including the nurse who told me over the phone yesterday afternoon.

Sooo Sav and I will be staying home, inside, all. day. long. every. day. until she's better.

So stay away! Until further notice.

Even though she has this freaky disease she is still happy as ever. I just can't get over my love for her.

She is my little buddy, the best little buddy anyone could ask for. At the store she loves to sit in momma's cart, flirt with strangers, and stare at other kiddies. She also loves to hold (slash grab out of mom's hand) her grocery list, receipts, wallet, small items that should go in the cart....she gives me that look of "I'm just trying to help". Well, her desire to "help" is ~~not to be confused with~~ basically the same thing as her very determined curiosity of all things that mom is holding or gives any attention to. Does that make sense? If it's in mom's hands then she wants it. She's my go getter. My little buddy go getter. Love her.

She loves shopping with me. How do I know? Because when we are all done and we take the cart out to the car and I have loaded it up with the groceries and such and go to take Savannah out of the cart she screams all the way from my arms to her car seat until I am in the driver's seat and have started the car and pull away. Her little 8 month old tantrum when I take her out of the cart is actually kinda cute in that it shows her little personality.... Let's see if I can repeat that last sentence when Savannah is 2 years old instead of 8 months. The girl loves her cart rides at the store is what I'm saying.

Savannah's other love...or main love of her life I should say is her dad. Those two. I don't even know what to say about those two. She is obsessed with him. She stares, smiles, and laughs at pretty much everything he does. She lights up when he enters the room. She will literally leap out of my arms to get into his. She loves to say his name, you hear "da-da da-da da-da" all day long from that girl.

o haha here's a funny story.

The other day Savannah was in my lap on the floor and she was just staring into space, no blinking, just in deep thought. And I looked at her for a minute and then got close and said to her in my mommy voice (you know what I'm talking about), "what are you thinking about?"

And without looking at me, with that same deep contemplative look, in her small quiet baby voice whispered, "da-da".

The above crummy picture is the only evidence of her knowing how to crawl, although you can hardly call it that..evidence... after all it is only a picture of her sitting. But, alas, a picture speaks a thousand words, right? Well here is about 50 to help explain: A couple days ago we were in our living room pictured above and she crawled (butt scooted really, but that counts) all the way to the Christmas tree which is to the left of this frame, grabbed a candy cane off the tree and crawled all the way back to show me her new toy.

It was amazing.

Don't believe me? I don't blame you. I need to get video of her new skill. This week for sure.

Oh and please don't judge me on Savannah's outfit. A onesie in mid-December. An unsnapped onesie. An unsnapped short-sleeved onesie at that! O shame. But to my defense I'm pretty sure It was right after I changed her diaper and It was almost bed time so I was about to give her a bath anyway. Oh what do I care... she is in an unsnapped short-sleeved onesie, just deal.

I guess one of the selfish perks to Savannah being sick is that she gets a little snuggly. Mmm. That head on my shoulder has power to melt my heart. I love being a mom.

Hopefully Savannah is better by tomorrow. If not, maybe I'll be lucky to get more snuggles from that little toe-head for a couple more days. Because we all know an un-sick Savannah isn't very fond of the snuggles.

Good night.

Sunday dinner at our place

2011-12-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we had my sister, Lauren, and her husband, Chris, and our bff Juliet come over for dinner.

It was such a blast.

We had chicken rolls with white gravy and mashed potatoes and brocolli with martinellis.

(a new Sunday meal tradition that Morgan and I started a couple months ago)

Afterwards we cut out paper snowflakes and watched the virgin diaries on TLC. I highly recommend it.

Stripes! and yeah that's my real deal hair, au naturale. Ramen noodle craziness.

Juliet has been one of me and Lauren's best friends since we were like 5. I just love the girl. She cracks me up and has such great insight on life. Love her. And Sav loves her Aunt Ju-Ju too.

And thanks Juliet for getting some great pictures for me to steal :)

Got to love those candids.

Such a great night. Morgan was there too, I promise. He is just a little more camera shy than the rest of us.

On Saturday...

2011-12-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

... we went to Courtney's for pizza and gingerbread house making!

This is all I was able to accomplish that night. The cinnamon toast crunch roof is harder than it looks people!

Earlier that day Savannah went with me to the store to pick up some supplies for the night. I just can not take how cute that little girlie is. She looves going to the store with her momma. She loves the colors, the noises, the people watching, all of it. She is the best little buddy.

Heather (below) is the greatest. She loves those girls and those girls love her! I wish I got more vid/pics of Sydney and Savannah playing together because they played side by side with toys pretty much the whole night. We stayed way past Sav's bedtime but she was having the time of her baby life playing with new toys and with a friend. This picture just makes me so happy. What could be better than two snuggly babies in your arms?

The next day after church I finished my gingerbread house. It kind of looks like a 7-year-old did it but I am still proud of my work, droopy window panes and all!

Thanks Courtney and Heather (and husbands) for a fun night!

rue Holiday Issue

2011-12-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you read the online mag rue. But I do and I thought I would share some of their eye candy from this year's holiday issue that came out today.

So here are my favorite pages for your viewing pleasure:

Check it out