i have a serious problem....

and that problem goes by the name.....mint. green.

i can't get enough!! especially paired with grey/silver...makes me wanna get married all over again, and do EVERYTHING in mint and grey. so fresh and cool...and to me, unexpected.

oh that's right, my nails are rocking mint green right now....essie's turquoise and caicos to be exact. I. LOVE. IT. i love it even if i had to out on 3 coats instead of 2 to get the gorgeous creamy color i wanted (and now my right hand ring finger nail has little bubbles, which is arguably the most annoying thing ever.)

last night, i based my WHOLE outfit around this new ann taylor loft necklace i got for $12. white ruffle cardi, grey tank, this necklace, jeans and grey pumps. SO. STINKING. CUTE. it just seems so summery!!

and i'm still trying to find the perfect place to rock this bauble i made. chunky grey beads, and mint green ribbon. i'm thinking white tee and skinny jeans. i've had these beads for MONTHS, but the second i remembered my minty ribbon (from the dollar store!! holla!) i knew it was "mint" to be....HA! sorry, couldn't help the pun.

so what are some of your fave unexpected color combos?? seen any green and grey for me to covet?

hola from the unemployment line!

okay, not ACTUALLY in the unemployment line....apparently, they don't pay you the monies when you leave your job by choice. bummer.

anyhoo...now that i'm 3 days into my sabatical (that totally sounds better than my "sitting at home and being lame" excursion, right?) its starting to feel like an actual out of work thing, instead of a long weekend.

so, what is this girl doing when she's not at work?

* broke a fight between my dogs...got a WICKED bruise on my bicep from trying to keep them from eating each other's faces. clearly...not ready for kids.

* been shopping with mom, and she decided to buy me some stuff!! WOOOO!! guess she knows it's buy me clothes, or have me turn to dancing for money (j/k. don't think the girls are big enough for that).

*crafting. although....technically just finishing stuff i've had half-done for weeks....and i have learned, while mod podge rocks...i CANNOT KEEP THE BUBBLES AWAY!!!!! grrrrrr. maybe it's not drying long enough before the top coat? i got no clue...but seeing as how i'm currently making magnet boards from dollar store pizza pans...i figure i can make a mistake or 2.

*trying NOT to snack myself into oblivion. cuz unemployed = okay. fat = okay. both = too much for my fragile psyche to handle.

and of COURSE, i've been reading blogs like a mofo. promise...i'll be around with some more entertaining biznass than this...and maybe some eatly afternoon crazy girl ramblings, when i start losing my grasp on not-crazy.

why my husband is cooler than yours

i'll be the first to admit...my hubs is a total goob.
see?? i don't even remember what the heck he was acting our here...rowing a boat? some sort of bizarre dance? no clue.

anyways....this week the hubs got some AMAZING news.

nope, not that new job that means we'll be making BANK.

nope, not the fact that he's leaving his current job a total rockstar...and they can't even offer him anything comparable to stay.

nope, his news is none of those things....

so what's got him all aflutter??
::drumroll please::

MY HUSBAND IS ON URBAN DICTIONARY.

i'm pretty sure he actually squealed when he got the email his submission was accepted. and it's not just an addition to something...he's the first person in the whole world to come up with this...or at least the first on urban dictionary.

so what is this addition to the world??
sorry ahead of time to the non-potty mouths out there...but this is too good to NOT put out there.

but wouldn't you share if your hubs brought fry f*ck into the world?!

i've been harboring a secret

and i've been sitting on this secret for 18 months...and one day.

but today, i decided it's time, on my last full day of work at my tv station, to come out of the closet.

so what is this deep, dark, hasn't been shared with ANYONE but my husband last night and a few close, non-work friends??

I'VE HAD A CAKE ON CAKEWRECKS.

there, i said it. now i feel so much better =)

if you don't already know, cake wrecks is the best collection in the whole wide interner world of terrible, awful, no good, very bad cakes. they spell things wrong. they look like poo. they write incorrect messages.

and sometimes, just sometimes...they feature giant head cakes.

oh that's right...I SUBMITTED THAT CAKE. want proof?? check it out!! hayley e. = me.

and i've seen it with my very own eyes...and my cell phone, cuz how do you NOT take a picture of this nonsense?!

i honest to goodness have nothing but love for the bakery that made this cake...they made my wedding cake and grooms cake after all. and they were both delicious!!

see?! those aren't abominations of fondant and edible photos!! they're buttercreamy goodness.

but nothing excuses the terrifying ordeal of seeing your coworkers' faces on a distorted pair of boobs. that are supposed to be heads.

the mailman better get on it

because i want my newest online purchase ASAP.
oh hello there gorgeous anthropologie necklace with rhinestones and prettiness that used to be $80 dollars and i paid $20 for.

look at the length!!! it's so perfect, just long enough to be statement-y, but short enough to be different from a lot of other long necklaces i have. i cannot wait to get it in the mail and wear it around...my house. CUZ I'VE GOT TODAY AND TOMORROW LEFT AT WORK. mkay, all better.

also, i might have gotten this knob, because it was $3 and i love him. even if i don't know what i'm gonna do with him. he's a fish! he'll live somewhere eventually.

and yes, i'll admit...this is the FIRST thing i've ever bought from anthro. i love their stuff...but we don't have a store here. and i'm always a little worried about buying from stores i've never been in and been able to see the sizing. but jewelry? always fits =)

also...i gotta say a little something to my lovely friend Mrs. Southern Belle....

also, i have some crazy awesome stuff planned for tomorrow and thursday...so stay tuned!!

i'd like to thank the academy...

cuz i'm the best there is!!!!

okay, i'd actually like to thank the georgia association of broadcasters. because this girl, who has TWO DAYS LEFT in her tenure as a television news producer, found out today that MY SHOW won a "best newscast" merit award from the GAB.

five years of working away, and i FINALLY have something to show for it. sure i've had experience and nice resume...but nothing says "i'm kind of a big deal" in tv land quite like an award.

plus, don't think for A SECOND i'm not gonna shell out some cash and get a statue for my mantle...or maybe a lighted box. maybe i'll keep it in my bathroom like all those celebs say they do with their oscars.

also, expect another update tonight, the hubs should be on the phone with new company RIGHT NOW!!!! eeeep!!!

this friday, i love my dad!

please run over to the lovely summer's neck of the blog woods and play along with the friday, i'm in love series!!
cuz this friday, i'm showing some love for the most important man in my life, minus the hubs of course...my dad!!

i mean check out those laughs! if we aren't totally alike in our sense of humor...no one is. my dad pretty much rules. he CALLS ME randomly if he sees something on tv that he thinks i'll like (or if it's something we both already love....a la the sylvia episode of intervention. "MY BABIES!!!!!!" gets thrown around a lot at out house.)

see, i didn't know that every kid didn't go on "adventures" growing up. my parents would load my sister and i in the car, and off we'd do, destination unknown.
i also didn't find out until we BOUGHT OUR HOUSE that my mom never told my dad i was moving out, and in with the boyfriend (who's now the hubs) until the morning the moving truck came to get me.

explains why all he said to me was "have fun storming the castle".

i'm a daddy's girl, through and through. i teared up during my walk down the aisle, i teared up during my vows. i BAWLED LIKE A BABY during my dance with my dad. see that face?? full-on ugly cry.

and i fully believe that my parents' marriage is one of the best role models for how i want my marriage to be. they've been married 35 years (i think, i don't do math yo), and they're loving life sans my sister and i now. they go riding on the harley, they go to random events, they hang out.

sometimes they fight...but it's more like arguments. and they always make up. and my mom knows sometimes it's just because my dad is hungry or sick, and my dad knows sometimes my mom takes things too personally and gets upset...and they work it out. they always have.

see, my dad may be a 6'3", harley riding, flaming skull jacket wearing dude...but he's also A BIG GOOFBALL. which is why i love him so much, he's just the best dude ever!!

and yes, i now fully believe sometimes you marry someone just like your dad, because pops and the hubs are SO ALIKE IT'S CRAZY.

so i'll be spending sunday with my 2 favorite dudes, and probably the dogs, and of course my mom, and i wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

so fresh and so clean

i'll admit...i didn't have perfect teeth growing up. went through an expansion device for my top teeth (since my jaw was too small for my teeth) and then permanent retainers, bands around my molars, etc. got a root canal my senior year in high school ( a surprise one...mom called and checked me out, and then i HAD TO GO BACK TO CLASS). also had invisalign when i was about 23, and it totally straightened everything out.


see, those pearly whites came at a price!!!

my mom is a dental hygenist...so i've ALWAYS been a teeth brusher. i can;t NOT brush them...i don't think i've ever gone to bed without doing it. you know how some folks love greasy food the morning after a night of drinking? all i want to do is BRUSH. MY. TEETH.

if i could keep my mouth feeling the way it does right after a good brush...i would. so minty, so clean, so awesome.

so i'm always on the hunt for a deliciously minty toothpaste...the kind you can feel when you breathe through your nose. the minty that just sticks around and makes you KNOW your teeth are clean.

true story - i used to keep a travel tube of toothpaste in my car, and i'd put some on my finger and rub it on my front teeth INSTEAD OF JUST KEEPING GUM OR MINTS. so weird.

and i officially have a new fave.

omg, this is THE BEST STUFF EVER. soooooo minty. plus, it whitens. plus, it's got a TWIST OFF TOP, which is so old-school i can't even stand how much i love it.

plus, it's kind of mouthwash-y...but not. cuz that ish is kinda gross.

i've used it twice, and i literally wish i could go home and brush my teeth right now.

see?! thumbs up from freshly showered, teeth-brushing hayley.

and yes, clearly i have NO SHAME for posting this photo of myself sans any makeup, with a towel on my head.

does this say monday or what?!

RAHHHH!!!! I'M GERARD BUTLER, YOU CAN SEE MY BIZNASS IN THIS MOVIE...OR YEAH, AND THIS IS HAYLEY'S 300TH POST!! RAHHHHH!!!

happy monday loves!!! i figured....what better way to celebrate 300 whole posts than scary gerard. plus...i was too lazy to look for anything better on google.....2 pages of basically this same picture over and over, and i was over it.

i spent part of sunday shopping (mostly because the mall is inside, and air conditioned, and it is HOT AS HADES in my neck of the woods right now. yipes.) anyhoo...the hubs and i got some MEGA sales...he got 2 new ties, so he can rock out his (hopefully) last job interview tomorrow....this one is at the actual company, all the others have been over the phone!

we stopped by the big bath and body works sale...and we loaded. up.

i got this yummy yummy lotion, and matching showe gel...cuz i hate the way it tastes, but i LOOOOVE the way pink grapefruit smells. don't it figure the website now says the shower gel is $3 instead of the $5 i paid....totally contemplated taking it back and getting a price change...BUT since the cashier let me use my coupon for a free item when it was already expired...i'm gonna be good. for $30, i got the pink grapefruit lotion and gel, another body cream in orange sapphire (yummmmm), a full-size perfume in white citrus (normally $27, on sale for $6.75), the hubs got 2 dude things, a $1 trial of the next scent coming out in july, and a big tote that i can get 10% off things with through next month. HOLLA!!

also totally scored at ann taylor loft....3/4 sleeve ruffle white cardigan, and 2 lightweight knit 3/4 sleeve sweaters for $30. the cardi was $18, the others were SIX DOLLARS APIECE!!! even i don't wear them until october...can't beat $6.

so now i'm contemplating this skirt i scoped out at target a few weeks ago, cuz it's only $15.

i love the tulip-y sort of shape...but the waistband is just thick black elastic. and that will either be awesome...or make me look like a heifer.

but this pattern on the fabric is TO. DIE. FOR.

but it looks SOOO good tucked in...and i don't really do that. all my weight is in my midsection, so tucking in = looking preggers. and i'm not.

so....thoughts? get it for $15 and experiment?

friday, and i'm in love!

oh how i love miss summer b. for giving me a reason every single week to think about all the things, big or small, that i just love love LOVE.
and today, ALL i can think about is spending the day at the pool tomorrow with my best friends. cooling off, floating around, maybe getting some color (if it can penetrate my layer of 70 spf because this girl burns EASY!!). and maybe...just maybe....rocking a fancy 'do.

i LOVE me some front braids. and who else rocks it better than lauren conrad?? i admit...i was tres intimidated by the braid. i've never been able to french braid or anything...so making it work on a little piece of my own hair was a challenge!

what i always end up doing is braiding the front, shorter layer piece of my hair into my longer hair, and back towards my ear. so then i can pin it in place and pull the whole thing up. i haven't done it for the pool yet, because i HATE getting burned in my hair part....but maybe i can figure something out.

and while i'm at the pool...my nails will be shining.

this is essie's "steel-ing the spotlight", aka the most awesome metallic polish ever. it's a little silver. it's a little gold. it's shiny...but not TOO shiny. it's a fab neutral that's way more fab than most neutrals. try it! you'll love it.

and of course...i am LOVING all the awesome music from glee's finale this week. so so SO good. see, the hubs and i have a thing about journey....he loves them. and so listening to so many, i love it too now. well...most of it. i still think "wheel in the sky" is stupid.

but imagine my SHOCK, when the hubs took the remote and turned up the tv when this song started!!! it was so awesome....this was VERY close to being our first dance song. it wasn't....but we did play it at the wedding.

"i'm forever yours....faithfully"

happy friday my dears!!!

this is why i need a stylist. or more money.

because i am IN AWE of how amazing carrie underwood always looks....and i wanna be just like her. except i like my hubs better than her hockey-playing man...even though they are PRECIOUS together.
last night, she handed him her SO CUTE purse when she won at the CMT awards last night. and that dress?! that purse?! those shoes?! i want the whole damn thing. i love her.

so ladies...i need YOU to be my stylist today. next week, i have a meeting for a fundraising event i'm helping with...i've never done something like this, and the only reason i'm on the committee is because the president of the chamber of commerce raising the funds is a close friend, and i kept telling him i wanted to help...so he made it official.

the meeting is at their home, nothing super formal and fancy...but you know me. i wanna look awesome. cuz that's how i roll. plus, getting toward the end of my work tenure...i wanna rock out all my dressier stuff before i'm sitting home crafting and have no reason to!!

so i'm thinking this dress, with my khaki blazer i rock with the sleeves rolled up, and a long multiple strand of pearls/crystals. the sleeves have a little blue and white stripe you can see with it rolled up...so my question is, will these shoes match?

my beloved kate spades. that have been worn twice in their gorgeous little lives. does the blue give a little pop with the orange and the neutral of the blazer/necklace? or too much?

narrate my life, with nerdiness and awesome

let me set the scene for you:: monday afternoon. sitting at my computer during the shows i produce. browsing around the AP wires. and i see a little something something that says "science, morgan freeman" or something equally vague. because that's how the AP rolls with story titles. and so...i click. and proceed to FREAK THE EFF OUT.

because one morgan freeman, master of all things awesome, will be narrating a new show on the science channel.
doesn't this picture SCREAM "let me teach you all the wonders of the universe....plus, wear a badass earring. cuz i'm morgan freeman".

courtesy of the science channel's website, the description of the new show is "Through the Wormhole will bring together the brightest minds and best ideas from the very edges of science — Astrophysics, Astrobiology, Quantum Mechanics, String Theory, and more — to reveal the extraordinary truth of our Universe."

ummm...i don't know what a lot of those words mean...but my sci-fi nerd husband kinda wigged out when i showed him. it sounds super smart though right?? plus...IT'S MORGAN FREEMAN.

if you want to know more about the show, HERE'S the actual website from the science channel. the first episode comes on tomorrow night at 10pm, and it's about whether the idea of God is possible, or in our brains or something like that. which is SO up my ally.

cuz i'll admit...while some sci-fi stuff goes over my head...for all intents and purposes, i am a card-carrying nerd. of the loves to learn variety. give me some national geographic channel, some discovery channel, etc etc...and i will learn these crazy little facts and then spout them off for the rest of forever. making myself feel smart =)

so who's gonna watch this biznass with me??? and more importantly....how AWESOME would it be to have morgan freeman narrate your life? he's my top choice....sorry james earl jones.

a little glitter makes mondays more fun

happy monday darlings!! i had a wonderful weekend of shopping and new fun things for myself...so monday morning was a little brutal.

i'm a rocking a new mani today, after putting it off friday AND saturday because i was too sleepy at night to wait the extra hour for everything to dry. tragic right?
this is an OPI color, kinky in helsinky, plus a coat of my new sally hansen "rockstar pink". it's mostly dark pink glitter, with a little blue, red and gold in too....it's SOOOO cute on, i just can't take a non-crappy photo to save my life.

and please remind me of how cute i say this is when i'm STRUGGLING to get it off in a few days!! that's the worst with glitter polish....but i love it so!

also....forever 21 is trying to ruin my life.


I. WANT. THIS. NECKLACE. it's sooooooo fun, so hayley, so needs to be in my closet. but shipping from F21 is a little insane...and i don't have a store within 100 miles of me. a friend went to 2 stores in ATL this weekend...and NOTHING!!! has anyone seen this near them? do i need to suck it up and pay the extra to get it shipped to me??

also, hubs has a phone pre-interview this afternoon for his big-time, impress the boss and make big money interview wednesday!!

love is a temple, love is the higher law

<
i figured, what better way to celebrate the friday i'm in love series, by the lovely summer than to take a little trip down memory lane. i actually thought about this last night, when my darling husband was trying to go to sleep, still obsessively checking his email, and FINALLY hearing something from his potential job. his inbox told us "talks are getting interesting...but GOOD interesting". no clue what that means....but good is good i guess!!

anyway, i got a flash of a blog post i wrote long long ago, from a blog i've made private and mostly just kept around for myself....the dateline is january 15, 2007....the monday AFTER i told my then-boyfriend that i loved him for the first time. that boyfriend is now my husband.


there is something strange about love. the way it makes people act, the way it makes people feel, the way it can consume whole ideas and create such extreme reaction.

there is something i realized about love a few days ago.

the first time you fall in love, it's amazing. it's like nothing else you've ever felt, and you swear you'll never feel this way again. and it's reckless and it's without abandon and it's a feeling that seemingly has no boundaries and no limits and also...no logic.

and then that first love ends. and all of those hopes and dreams come crashing down, and you swear up and down you will never feel pain like that again, that nothing has ever been so intense or jarring or emotionally draining ever before.

and then love comes along again.and what i realized, is while yes, there really isn't anything to compare to first love....that's not a bad thing. because it is reckless and throw caution to the wind and all of that, but it won't always be like that. so few people end up with the first person they fall in love with.

when you fall the second, or third, or 42nd time...it's always, always a calculated risk. because you KNOW the pain you've been through before, and you fully understand that giving your heart away means you are potentially putting yourself in front of the firing squad.and when you realize you would glady do all of that, risk all of those horrid, soul-scarring emotions just to have those good things too....that's when you know it's real. when you're willing to give your heart to someone, knowing entirely too well they could stomp on it and hand it back in 100 pieces for you to try and put back together alone...and you still can't imagine anyone else having it. on that day, you really realize what love is about.

i know now.

the countdown is on...and i'm still shopping

it is now official. my last day at my current job is june 23rd. a wednesday. a wednesday that's less than 3 weeks away. which is SUPER FREAKING SCARY. and also really exciting...because its the break i've been longing for since last year, when i signed a one year extension to my contract to get me through my wedding.

now...i just have to figure out what's next. and wait for the company that seems to be peeing their pants over hiring the hubs to ACTUALLY FREAKING HIRE HIM. ugh....he does not do waiting well...he's like his wife in that respect =) so last week's wait turned into this week's wait...which turned into today's wait, and hopefully not next week's wait also.

and so of course, with impending unemployment....of COURSE i decided to do some online window shopping, after an email from payless about 20% off, plus buy one get one 50% off.
i think i might love these wedges. i'm totally a summer wedge girl...makes a jersey dress look a little dressier than flip flops, but they're so freaking comfy that it's LIKE wearing flip flops, but taller. plus, the gold is kinda cute running through there.

and these flats are just too fab to me. of COURSE they're christian siriano, which makes them even more awesome...cuz he is =)

i have a hard time finding flat sandals i like, because SO many are gladiator style, or have that really long piece in the middle between your big toe and the next toe....which are super cute on others. but i've got looooooong toes. like, people make fun of me when they notice how long they are. i can pick stuff up with them. so emphasizing the length of my size 10's and creepy long toes is NOT. COOL.

the best part is that both pair would be about $34 total.

let's just say a little good thought to the universe the hubs gets a call, and i find a job, so i don't have to give up my shopping habit...

not a happy hayley

because i'm working late. well...working a weird shift that puts me not getting home until 9:30 tonight.

because of this.
i do take solace in the fact that hopefully this will be the LAST election (it's primaries in alabama) that i will EVER have to cover...not just participate it.

the worst part about working late? missing this.

sweet mother of all things glorious and wonderful....this is the BEST. SHOW. EVER. don't worry...you'll get a whole post about why i love wipeout when the actual season starts later this month.

i take solace in new purchases...like this.

isn't it purty?? i love the swirls, and how awesome it's gonna look with jeans, and white crops, and my white dress and my blue dress.

and that it was $30 orginally, and i had a 20% off coupon, AND THEN the awesome cashier at target went ahead and took off a $2 coupon that printed out with our purchase, so it ended up being only $22. LOVES. IT.

be back on the regular tomorrow my dears!!