Saturday's Fail Sauce

Saturday night, I was planning on going out with some friends for a birthday...

So, I got all dolled-up...even tried a few new makeup tutorials, like the Cat-Eye Liner and the Voluminous Lip Illusion . {{B-T-Dub, that lip trick is really awesome -- especially if you apply a little bit of clear gloss on top!}}

But then...as it turned out, when one person couldn't go out, the next person couldn't go out, and then the other person had been at the Jazz Festival all day so was sort of already hammered...and the other person fell asleep.

In other words, it was a complete and utter fail.

So instead, I came back home and snuggled up with this guy --> Winston Frankenstein the 1st. But you can call him Winnie, Wince, Booboo, Bubbie, or just Winston is fine too!

He's not really very keen on photo taking.

And if you're really into swooning over people's furrbabies (a term I've only recently coined after blogging heh), you can meet my other Cheech, Pepper, here.

Any guesses on what type of mix this fella is?

Thursday 13: Looking Forward

This week's topic: Things I'm Looking Forward To

Hosted by the fabulous Chloe

1. Finishing up my final semester of class as an undergrad! 2 more weeks!!

2. Three weeks of vacation after that with nothinggg to worry about :) 

3. Going home for a week && hanging out with mi familia. My sister is having surgery next month, so we'll be having TV & Movie marathons while she's on bedrest!

4. Moving into my new house with 3 of my best friends!

5. Starting my internship!! The first stepping stone into my career 

6. Having enough money after starting my internship to start becoming financially independent :)

7. Seeing my two ads on AunieSauce & Confessions of a Graphic Design Student next month!

8. Seeing my best friend in the entire world the first weekend of June!! (She lives up in NY and haven't seen her since her birthday over Labor Day Weekend)

9. Celebrating Mirandapalooza 2012....this year Ethan && I are turning 23. When did we get so old?

10. My little, baby boy -- Winston Frankenstein the 1st is turning 2 in June. I'm planning to buy him a doggie DNA test and find out what breeds he is! Can't wait for that

11. Graduating college in August!! Wooh woooooh!

12. Being a full-time, big girl professional!

13. Last but not least, Mardi Gras 2013!

Oh boy, that was harder to do than I thought it would be. Don't forget to link-up at Chloe's blog && get excited, because next week is my turn to host T13! 

Real Beauty

Last week, Kristen @ From Kristen, With Love (Also my elementary friend from real life) posted a reminder that we're beautiful which was my inspiration for this post!

***

As a young girl I remember wanting so badly to look like so many of all my other friends. In elementary school, I was always in swim-team every summer...and what do you ya know? While all my other friends were getting tan, I was gaining freckles and lobster skin. 

In middle school, when all the other girls were super thin or only slightly chubby I was the girl with a womanly hour-glass shape and love-handles that turned into Irish birthing hips. I'd constantly put down my body yearning to be a size I could never become. And it wasn't until I saw the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty that I finally started to appreciate my own beauty. 

I started seeing my freckles as what sets me apart from everyone else. And those hips? I embraced them as a part of a woman's body. And I didn't even know it until years later that some of my friends actually wished they had curves and freckles. 

Source: google.com via Miranda on Pinterest

One of my absolute favorite blogs to read is {Wonderfully Made} that has topics regarding worth, body image, causes, dating/relationships, and more. I encourage all of you lovely ladies to check it out! 

What is your definition of beauty?

Congratulations to my future roomies!

Congratulations Ethan && Hayley 

I'm so stinkin' happy to announce that my future roomies are engaged!

Oh man...that was one secret that was difficult to keep

and if you know me, you know I have trouble keeping secrets ;)

In fact, I was at their apartment last week, knowing that he would be asking her over the weekend on their vacation. As I was saying bye to her before I left I almost teared up knowing the next time I saw them that they'd be engaged!!

 

You did good, Ethan...You did good ;)

Calling all bloggers, May Swap Sponsors!

Happy Saturday, Lovelies 

It's about that time again! I'm calling all bloggers to take advantage of my free sponsor program! 


On the right of this blog you'll notice a set of gorgeous ladies that I've swapped with.
This next month is going to be a little different. I'm thinking of having having a few sponsor shout-out posts because my swap sponsors are just so fabulous! :)

May is going to be a super-frickin-awesome month so I encourage y'all to get involved with this. I love meeting new bloggers, and I feel like swapping helps create a blogger bond and spread the love by getting each other's names out!

Interested, chyes? C'mon, you know you want to!

** Email me for more details: Mirndee @ Gmail.com **

By the way, if you haven't checked out my swap sponsors yet...you really should 'cause they're awesome ;)

Just Because: Ouchers!

On Monday I wrote about the reunion of my e214 family!

Well, there's something I forgot to mention...

Something happened on Friday night that I'm now regretting...

In fact, it's actually so bad, I sort of want to cry!

Something you should know about me is that I'm extremely clumsy. 

I sprained my ankle in three places junior year of high school at the first football game warming up to perform at the first half-time! Yeah...

Since then I twist my ankle or fall pretty badly several times every year.

The last time I fell was last semester when I was taking Winston and Pepper outside.

I thought it might be fun to run up the steps to try to race them (what was I thinking).

Instead, I took two hops up the stairs and fell flat on my face and skinned my knee pretty badly.

It took foreverrrrrr to heal!

And then....on Friday the 13th, 2012 it happened again!

The Scene: Taco Cabana

Time: 2:45am

There we were finishing up a fun-filled night of catching up and reminiscing about our freshman year of college on Fry Street at Lucky Lou's. Ethan, our DD for the evening, drove us all to our favorite late-night-eatery, Taco C. ohhhh yeahhhh! We get out of the car and excitedly head for the door.

WHAM.

Flat on my face. Again. Skinned-knee. Again. 

And what do ya know...a cop walks by us not even 10 seconds to get himself some food.

My wonderful friends help me up, and we go inside and get in line...

I must've looked miserable because Ethan goes "Miranda, why don't you go sit down?" Me: Okay *sad face* Ethan: What do you want? Me: *In a very sad voice, almost like a kid who just skinned their knee..oh wait* Bean & Cheese Taco Combo Ethan: Okay, Miranda. Go sit down.

Miserably, I go and get us all a table. I had ripped a huge hole in my only pair of black leggings. Up walks Irene and Aminah very excitedly to give me some antibiotic wipes and stuff, and a band-aid. Scott made me an "ice-pack" made out of 11 napkins and some ice (it didn't really work, but I sure appreciated the gesture!). And a sweet Taco-C lady came and gave me a real ice-pack. 

Other exciting moments from last weekend:

• Aminah and I have pact-buddies! If we're not married by the time we're 30, then she's going to marry Daniel and I'm going to marry Scott! Haha...from that point on, Scott and I would plus or minus points on each other for random things
• $1.25 Dos Equis at the local hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant! "I don't normally drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis"
• Getting to see my beautiful bestie, Danica Saturday evening for a fun-filled evening with the rest of the gang in the apartment!
• Checking out a new bar here in the little town outside of Dallas called The Draft House. It's way cool! It's an old, vintage house that's been converted into a bar with a huge backyard patio located right off the downtown square. This place even has antique furniture with B&W portraits...you feel like you've stepped into the 1910s!

Thursday 13: Spring Wardrobe Must-Haves!

Welcome everyone to the second week of the new T13! 

This week, the lovely Jennifer at What's Mine Is Yours is hosting with the fabulous topic of Spring Wardrobe Must-Haves! Ahhhh! :) I can't even wait...so let's get started!

1. Chunky, mint, Oliphant necklace

2. Gold, gold, gold jewelry!

3. Vintage-inspired Tangerine dress

4. A-line dress with pink blazer --> Vote for her blog at LaurenConrad.com

5. Cold-shoulder top -- LC Lauren Conrad at Kohls

6. Neon!!!

7. Pink linen pants

8. Lace top, camel colored belt and mint skirt -- yes, please!

9. Swooning over the dark flares with the white cold-shoulder top.

10. Kate Spade CORK POINTY FLATS!! - Get in my closettttt

11. Leopard scarf, dah

12. Coral skinnies, embelished tank & white blazer

13. Leopard Ray-Ban wayfarers 

What's your Spring Must-Have? && Don't forget to link-up at Jennifer's blog!

Happy Hump Day!

Surprise!

Today I'm guest blogging at Designs by Emily F featuring a DIY tutorial on creating a yarn-covered monogram. Be sure to check it out and check out her lovely blog!! :)

&&

Yesterday, I was featured at Aunie Sauce. Be sure to stop over there where she's also featured several other beautiful blogging ladies!

Last but not least...

It's not too late to join the "When I Grow Up" blog-hop from yesterday! The linky-tool will be open for a week :)

<a href="http://www.MirandaLeigh.com"><a href="http://s1174.photobucket.com/albums/r602/mbraddy/?action=view¤t=WhenIGrowUp4-17.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r602/mbraddy/WhenIGrowUp4-17.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><div></div></a>

Have a fantastic Wednesday everyone :)

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When I Grow Up

When I Grow Up! 

A blog-hop brought to you by yours truly and {Kristen} at {From Kristen With Love}

The topic: What did you dream of being when you grew up? An astronaut? Famous? Maybe you wanted to be a model or dreamed about being a mom? Join the party && link-up with us to let us know what you wanted to be when you grew up!

• Write your post
• Grab the button at the bottom of the page
• Come back here or to Kristen's page to link-up
• Visit other blogs & check out what they wrote! It's more fun if you hop and meet other bloggers :)

***

First when I was little, I used to watch the weather channel...a lot! I mean, when I got home from school I watched the weather channel...before I left for school in the morning, I watched the weather channel...I used to turn on the television and stand in front of it with the little TV remote and pretend that I was giving the weather report. I used to have a little weather map in my room that I'd also practice my weather reports with. In fact, my best friend Shereditthe of over 15 years still remembers when I used to do this. When I lived in south Florida for four years I went through way too many hurricanes and tropical storms to count but enjoyed all of them anyway like a weirdo!

Soooo...when I started applying for colleges I applied to the School of Meteorology at Texas A&M. Apparently that must be a pretty competitive program because I didn't get in.

***

I've mentioned before in "The Awkward Years" that I frequently popped into every photo I possibly could when I was little. What you should also know is that my favorite game to play was "make believe". I dreamed of being an actress, and loved to play the character of anyone else: Kimberly the Pink Ranger, the mom of the household, Cleopatra the Queen of Egypt, or even Caroline off of Baywatch. 

As I got older, the dream of being an actress slowly fizzled...although I still dream of being famous ;)

***

Tell me, what did you want to be when you grew-up?

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.fromkristenwithlove.com" title="From Kristen, With Love"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EyCEHuk7csY/T4I_1LwsvsI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/cucaH4Se_GY/s1600/WhenIGrowUp+4-17.jpg" alt="From Kristen, With Love" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Instagram Mondays (2) - e214 Reunion

You guys!

I had the best weekend ever! You may have read a while back the post about my freshman year of college where I had a huge group of friends, aka, e214. E214 was my dorm room that I shared with my roommate Aminah. It was the ultimate hangout room where everyone was constantly coming and going. We spent hours in that room playing Truth-or-Dare, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, watching marathons of Nip/Tuck, and hosting Chugathons of squirt soda. 


Anyways, this weekend my former RA and really great friend, Scott, came up from San Antonio for his birthday weekend, and we hosted an e214 reunion :)

First, a little flashback to 2007

***

1. The original e214 - missing a few people though :/

2. Daniel, me and Scott

3. The bros! - Daniel, Scott, and Ethan

4. Group Shot #2 

5. Safety first! - Scott & Irene

6. Roomieeeee

7. Me with Aaron creepin'

8. Aminah, Irene and me....with Aaron creeping again!

Are you linking up with Kristen and I tomorrow for the When I Grow Up blog-hop?!

By the way, remember when I asked everyone for their advice on my hair? Well, I finally got my hair cut!

What do you think?!

Join the Instagram Monday party!

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Thursday 13: Favorite Places & Spaces!

Welcome to the new Thursday 13!

I'm proud and oh-so-excited to announce that Annelise has passed the torch, and I will be hosting Thursday 13 with along with Chloe from CJVZ Hearts You and Jennifer of What's Mine is Yours. On behalf of Chloe and Jennifer, the three of us are thrilled to have you :)

This week's theme: Favorite Places & Spaces

I've always dreamed of having a cabin in the mountains! No rustic escape is complete without these stone and wood elements, wine cellar, and gorgeous mountain view! I couldn't find a photo for it but I would also love to have a huge fireplace with a big bearskin rug and two big leather chairs!

Don't you just love all of these other spaces? 
(7) looks perfect for a pumpkin patch in the fall!
(8) is my kind of laundry room!
 (9) An outdoor patio on the second floor of a lake/beach home is a must
(10) Beautiful glam bathroom
(11) I dream of a Pottery Barn backyard patio with canopy
(12) I love the horizontal mirrors stacked vertically!

(13) Beautiful purple-glam living room!

And now it's your turn!

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.mirandaleigh.com" title="All Things Lovely" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m587/ADriflot/Generic%20Buttons/T13button.jpg" alt="All Things Lovely" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Thoughts from my future-self

I have this vision of my future-self. She's successful, radiant, healthy, and happy. She's taken steps to improve what she eats for the long-haul. She's energetic and wakes up early before heading off to her fabulous job in the morning to go running with one of her two pups. 

It occurred to me today that to bridge that gap between my future-self and my present-self I have to start making those changes to become her. With that said, I'll be starting a project to create a recipe binder! It'll be organized by breakfast, lunch and dinner meals filled with salads, crock-pot recipes, vegetable recipes, etc. Then, because I'm superbly organized when I take on projects like this, it'll be cross-referenced by gluten-free, vegetarian, wheat-free, etc. 

Once I'm able to complete this...I'll be taking on several challenges over the next few months: Going wheat-free for a month, experimenting by going vegetarian for a few weeks, eliminating gluten if I can. You see where I'm going with this. 

I'm starting my first challenge today:

For the next month, I will have not one teeny-tiny drop of soda. 

I don't really drink sodas anyway except here and there, so it shouldn't be too challenging. 

In addition, I will consume at least 4 mugs of water daily, equal to about 120oz of water a day.

I've set a reminder in my calender to see if I can do this! By May 9th, I will have completed Challenge #1.

Have you tried a gluten-free or vegetarian challenge?

Instagram Mondays (1)

I hope y'all had a great Easter weekend!

***

I'm in the process of moving back to Blogger, so bare with me while my design/layout is womperjawed

***

I've decided to start a new link-up series for each week that I hope you will decide to join me in. While everyone usually posts on Monday with what they did over the weekend, and to celebrate Instagram for Android...join me each monday for Instagram Mondays!

Share your Instagram shots from the previous week or over the past weekend! It's just one more way for you to share your story :)

Grab the button, share your photos and come here to link up!

1. One of my best friends and future roommate, Ethan!

2. My Winston doggie.

3. Went out to celebrate my new internship on Wednesday. Vodka + Water + Mio = Delish!

4. Night out with some great friends: (LtoR) Rachel, Me, Mari, and Nicole
5. Ethan and Mari!
6. Rachel and Me :)

Join the party!

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Hoppy Easter!

Happy Easter to all!

I’m always trying to make things better here! So, with that said…I’ve decided to move back to Blogger! It’s been a great 3 months, WordPress but Blogger still triumphs over you.

See you on the flip-side!

Help! I need your ever-loving hair cut advice!

Fact: It has been way too long since I got my last haircut

The last time I cut my hair I was moving into my new apartment over the summer and writing about Fall 2011 Trends. Yeah. It's been a while.

To be honest, I haven't cut it since then because it's taken so long to get to where my hair is now! I thought it might be fun to do a little "History of my hair" segment, because something you may not know is that my hair is one of my most prized features. I also want to get y'alls opinion on how I should cut my hair!!

• Freshman year, I had long hair, lots of layers and chunky angles in the front to frame my face
• Halfway throughout the year I tried to get side-bangs and had longer layers.

• Then I decided to chop off all my hair. Got deeper-cut side bangs and did the angled bob thing

• Then, I decided I was over the short hair phase...not that you can tell! I got my hair cut on Halloween and it was wayyyy shorter than I wanted.
• Then it just got stuck in that short cut which was a total fail
• The photo on the right was actually a decent cut with lots of layers as you can see.
• Apparently I also wore a lot of black that year haha

• This year, I was EVEN MORE over short hair and got stuck in the awkward length phase
• So, I would get a haircut and end up back at square one...again

• Yayyyyyy! I finally got passed the awkward phase & now, it's long enough to finally cut. Now you understand why I didn't want to cut it all year?

Here's where you come in:

I can't decide on what I should do...

Should I get deep side-bangs again?

Or should I just do my part down the middle?

Should I get shorter layers and keep it long like how I first started college?

Or should I just have long layers?

Should I get deep side-bangs?
	Absolutely!
	Negative, Ghost Rider
pollcode.com free polls

Happy 100th Post!

You guys!

This has been the best week of my life.

Not only is this my 100th post! (Pause for applause)

Wednesday morning I interviewed with a company for a summer internship...

They called me 20 minutes after the interview to offer me the position!

AND they're paying me! AND they're paying me more than I thought they would be!

Needless to say, I'm really super freakin' stoked! June 4th can't come fast enough :)

Linking up today with Annelise from Aunie Sauce for Just Because Friday! You guys know I'm like your ultimate girly-girl and in my family one of our favorite things to do is to have high tea :) Well, we lived out in south Florida while I was in high school and there was the most adorable tea house in Parkland called Carriage Light Tea House. They make all of their teas in-house and have a bunch of stuff to play dress-up while you're there. It's truly the perfect place for mother/daughter dates!

Also..!

Are you linking up with Kristen and I for "When I Grow Up"?!

Happy Easter Weekend!