November Ipsy Glam Bag

It's Ipsy time! It's Ipsy time!
If you're wondering what Ipsy's all about, check out my post Here

I absolutely LOVE the gold snake skin bag they sent this month. It'll be getting a lot of use!

I'm not too sure about the megenta colored eye shadow. It's a huge amount, which is great! I'll give it a shot but can't promise it'll be on heavy rotaion.

Ipsy seems to be a fan of Nailtini polish, which means that *I* have become a big Nailtini fan! I think this is my 3rd polish of theirs and even though I'm jealous of the gold color some of my ipster friends received, I'm still loving the silver.

Nude is the color chosen for me in the em lipstick, but my friend Melissa received a bright red/coral color so we're going to trade. I'll give a good review on that one once I get it on my lips, but the pigment and creaminess look great and I love the packaging!

I used the silver eye pencil to line my inner rims today and love the way it reflects light really brightens my eyes up!

Pixi is another brand Ipsy has introduced me to and this bronzer is GREAT. It's hard to find a bronzer these days that doesn't have a boat load of 80s shimmer, so Pizi nailed it, and I'm happy they supplied such a large amount! Who doesnt need bronzer?

Lastly, the Bombshell lip crayon in Red Hot. I LOVE IT! I put it on straight out of the mailbox! So smooth! My favorite thing about lip crayons is that they're not sticky like a gloss but not cakey and dry like a lipstick. Crayons and tinted balms will be in my beauty arsenal until the day I die!

Thanks Again, IPSY!

To get your own GlamBag, click here:

http://www.ipsy.com/r/2o4p

Ipsy

Everyone loves monthly mail-order beauty samples, but of all the ones out there, I believe I've found my favorite in the Ipsy Glam Bag!

Unlike some of the other ones, Ipsy isn't a one-for-all service where everyone gets the same thing; after filling out a questionaire about your skin tone, hair texture, eye color and style preference, you're sent items that are hand picked for you, and most of them are full sized! At a flat $10 a month, you cant beat it! I love that they send me things I would NEVER pick up or even try, and I usually love them!

Go to www.ipsy.com to sign up! You wont be disappointed!

North Carolina or Bust

My brother Kyle married the beautiful Caren Anne this past Friday. The older kids had school so Layla was the only one who got to join us in our cross country drive. You may think we're crazy for choosing to drive to North Carolina from Texas but you have to remember that with babies come a LOT of stuff. Flying just wasn't feasible once we factored in the need for a car seat, pack n play, stroller, toys, travel high chair, etc. We left at 5am on Saturday morning and the little one was NOT in the mood. She literally looked me in the eyes and said "NOOOOOO"

Chance and I were ready to rock and roll, though!

Layla got it together once we hit Arkansas and I bribed her with the iPad

After about 12 hours of driving we stopped in Knoxville, TN and spent the night. Layla had an Ali moment and ate pizza in the bed. We know how to party.

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, starting at 5 am, but once we reached the house Kyle and Caren rented for the week, all stress was forgotten!

The best part? I FINALLY got to get my hands on my sweet neice Riley Anne and all was right with the world. Isn't she beautiful?

Until the wedding post, Adios!

P.S....my hair? Anything BUT phenomenal all week. How do people live in that climate? I was a ruckus all week.

"All that crap will NEVER fit..."

....Famous last words from Chance.

Every time we take a trip I pride myself in my ability to pack for our small army in as few bags as possible. I'll admit, for our trip to North Carolina I didn't exactly embrace my practical "less is more" packing style. I have multiple excuses prepared; including, but not limited to: the unpredictability of the weather, the unknown events of the week, and how much lounging was allowed.

Here's the only bag I took. I didn't have time to document the packing, but snapped some pics during the unpacking process once we got to the house in North Carolina.

.....and the contents:

That one medium sized suitcase enclosed:

*7 sweaters
*1 sweatshirt
*8 tops
*3 pairs of jeggings
*5 pairs of leggings/yoga pants
*a pair of shorts
*3 scarves and countless underthings
*a pair of over the knee boots (plus a pair of riders I wore in)
*2 pairs of ankle boots
*2 pairs of heels
*2 pairs of flats

I had two dresses hung up so I wont claim them butttt....TOLD YA SO, Chance!! Had I known we would all be so lucky as to live in leggings and oversized shirts for the entire week, I could've crammed everything into my hand bag!

Oh did I mention that chance brought TWO bags and 4 pairs of shoes?

Packing up to head home after a full day of wedding prep and a FANTASTIC celebration didn't quite as smoothly but whatever...(Notice all the hanging clothes still in the closet.)

Fashion Police; arrest me, because this buy was a STEAL

I am an eBay junkie. There, I admit it. I love to buy next to new items at slashed prices, and sell a lot of things I "couldn't live without" that I never got around to wearing more than once on there, too! I was looking around for some black ankle booties and stumbled upon this "like new" pair and wound up winning the auction at a cool 99 cents and paid about $8 for shipping! I'm not too familiar with the brand but found it at DSW with boots running about $80. When they arrived at my door I was FLOORED to find them in the original packaging!

If you havent browsed around eBay in a while, now's the time to give them a shot!

A Good Man

I often wonder how I got so lucky to land Chance. This morning was one of those moments. We've spent the last week in North Carolina with old and new family as my brother changed Caren's last name and when I drug ass into work this morning I panicked at the realization of not having any creamer for my coffee. After alerting Chance to my distress he showed up at my office door with this.

Lucky, indeed. Happy Monday morning coming down, friends! Keep an eye out for the wedding post! I'm anxious to show you allllllllll the pics!

Game Day Dresses

Now y'all know how we Texans like our football; Loud, Spirited, and Fashionable? YES, fashionable. Gone are the days of One Size Fits All XXL jerseys. I've had my eye on the cute game day dresses I've seen in the Dallas Cowboys stores and online elsewhere but can't justify spending over $100 on one.

Luckily, a Longhorn friend of mine sought me out to make a couple for her and her friend, I jumped at the opportunity and they turned out great, if I do say so myself!

Shoot me an email at LaurenRaper@hotmail.com if you'd like one to don while rooting for your team, or check them out in my Etsy shoppe after October 21st, 2013! www.Etsy.com/shop/LittlesByLo

Fall in Texas

Hello, Friends! Fall weather finally hit us here in Texas this weekend, but it brought heavy wind and rain with it, neither of which I was terribly pleased about. Mayson and Caycee had a football game early Saturday morning so we loaded up and headed west, happy to be in our boots!

....but after toughing it out until halftime so we could see Caycee's cheer squad do their dance, we retired to the dry warmth of the car for the duration of the game.

Cold rain spectating is not in my job description

Mic check 1...

...is this thing on?

I haven't blogged in so terribly long.  Thankfully some of my Instagram friends have been picking theirs back up and in reading them all I was reminded that I even HAD one so many years ago! Now that I've left Facebook (peace out, frienemies), I'm really excited to re-explore this long forgotten outlet! My life had dramatically changed since 2011, when I last posted, so here's a crash course on Lauren Woodard 2.0. 

If you follow me on IG some of these pics may be repeats!

Chance and I are nearing our 3rd wedding anniversary and still obnoxiously happy. 

Chesney's 11 now and still a beauty who is addicted to her iPhone.

Mayson's 8 and playing football

Caycee's cheering for Mayson's team and loving it

...and Layla has a drinking problem

Jkjk she doesn't have a problem and can quit any time...it's the markers that she's hang a hard time kicking.

Now that you're up to speed on family life, stick around and watch what's really important: what I'm wearing and sewing! Haha!

Xoxo