WENSDOM: What I would tell my 16 year old self...

Dear sixteen year old me,

For starters your mom does know what she's talking about, in regards to everything. The caddy fights you're having with friends won't last and you won't even remember what they were about, so take a deep breath and just relax. Try not to beat yourself up so much when you look in the mirror, if you don't curve those bad habits now, you'll be paying for it in adulthood. High school, like all phases in life, is going to end. It could break you or it could break something open in you, I hope you pick the latter and allow yourself to grow and learn. Keep hold of your passions new and old, you never know where they'll take you. When you bring home a bad grade your life isn't over because of this one failure no matter how heavy it may feel at the time, trust me you'll be okay. Getting a part-time job and your own checking account is the best thing you can do for yourself, it'll feel so good having your own money. Don't forsake the moments you have with your parents and cherish the moments you have with you family. Enjoy your friends and accept that sometimes people enter our lives for a season. Don't get tattoos until you're 18, the ideas you have now you'll grow out of! Most importantly don't lose your courage even when all you want to do is turn around and run home, stand your ground and brace the storm. Also embrace that you're young and will be for quite some time. You have your whole life ahead of you so don't count the days away waiting on a guy, or a dream. You gotta make those things happen for yourself. And never ever forget that no matter what you can always go home and get a hug from good old mom, because it'll always do the trick.

A friend :)

TASTE TEST: random restaurant review

(Okay I know we normally feature a recipe of some sort, but since I'm deathly ill (well I just have bronchitis) the kitchen is off limits to me. I'll be posting a restaurant review instead. It's still food! )

NOLA's in Pittsburgh on the square. If you've never been to Pittsburgh all you have to ask the locals is where the square is, they'll know what you're talking about and lead you in the right direction! NOLA's features a cajun and New Orleans styled cuisine, so if you like spicy cajun southern cooking you've hit the jackpot! Everything about my mother and I's experience here from the food to admiring the decor gets 5 stars from us! Our waitress was this adorably sweet gal who was very attentive and very helpful in choosing menu items. Even though we had one waitress, we noticed that the staff worked sort of as a team when things got busy. A very handsome tall glass of water would take our plates, a sweet sassy funny girl with bring us our food, and another totally hipster looking chick took our check. It was actually kind of like watching a choreographed dance number at times. 

The portions were crazy big! These are only our appetizers. My mom ordered the fried green tomatoes while I got the bowl of gumbo. Both were real tasty, well okay I wasn't too crazy about the fried green tomatoes, but I never am.

For my main entree I ordered jambalaya. Again such a huge portion, but very delicious. If you like fish and spicy andouille expect extremely fat pieces. 

For desert I ordered their beignets. I don't have real New Orleans ones to go off of, but these were so fluffy and flavorful. They came with three different sorbet flavors. 

My mom ordered the peach cobbler. The presentation of it was spectacular. We have a difference of opinion about it though. She didn't like it because there wasn't enough fruit in it for her liking, I did like it because of that reason. So if you don't like your cobblers overly fruity there you go. Over all we had a great time and plan to return. 

~Turtle

Natural! The Mini-Big Chop

It was in the Bahamas when I decided to cut the rest of my heat damaged ends off. It was so strange, and I'm not sure what overcame me but I didn't like looking at the scraggly heat damaged ends any longer. It didn't look like much had to be cut off anyway, so I just went into the bathroom of our stateroom and chopped it all off.

Before my Mini-Big Chop

Luckily, I only had to cut about two inches off all of my hair, which is funny because that means I had been transitioning for about two years without even realizing it. It's been about a week since I have returned and I absolutely love my natural hair. De-tangling has becoming much easier since I no longer get as many knots as I had previously, also I've noticed that the volume of my hair has somehow increased dramatically. It's so big and beautiful!

After the mini-big chop - with Instagram!

I didn't realize how heavy my ends made my hair, so I was surprised by how much it popped up into this big chia-pet hair, but I love it and I was completely ready for the change. Now my journey can continue as I learn how to take care of my hair, and to love it even more than I do now (although every day that passes is a day that I love my hair even more).

Have you made the big chop yet? Or will you transition for a while? Also, any recommended styles will be greatly appreciated. Drop a comment, I'm interested to hear what you have to say!

- Bunny

Guess who's 21?

I'm finally legal! At first I didn't want to do anything since my birthday fell on a Tuesday, I know how lame is that. You're supposed to get like black out drunk on your 21st birthday, but I may or may not have already done that the week prior in the Dominican Republic (ahem). Last minute my mom decided we could at least go out to dinner with close friends and family. So we got all dressed up and went out to one of my favorite places in D.C., Bus Boys and Poets.

Me, tasting my first glass of wine (legally)! It was so good. Very flavorful and tart.

I got my second tattoo on my actual birthday with my good friend Veronica holding my hand the whole time. Man it was rough, I knew the foot was supposed to hurt more than most other places, and it DID! But so worth it. It says "To a Skylark".

Thursday my mom and I snuck away to Pittsburgh for the evening to paint the town. We went out to dinner at this place called NOLA's, the staff was amazing. 

The following morning we went to the Andy Warhol museum and it was to die for! I never wanted to leave! I plan to go back and spend more time in it. So many floors of Andy ahh! Overall it turned out to be a really good birthday. I had plans to return to the apartment for a friend's birthday party, but my car had other plans. It decided to die on me right ear the tolls. So I'm back at my parent's house waiting for it to be drivable again. What's more is my phone went crai on me too, so I'm pretty much in the dark ages and carless. To add insult to injury I'm nursing a sudden case of bronchitis. Boy I know how to celebrate! Maybe all this rush of bad luck is an omen for something or perhaps something amazing is about to happen to me who knows. The good definitely out weighs all the bad!

~Turtle

PETFO: Bunny Haul!

I went to my local pet store to get some toys for my rabbits since the toys there are much more reasonably priced than at large chain stores, yet bedding, hay, and food is cheaper at the larger chain stores. I wanted to try out new toys for my rabbits that they have not tried yet, so here's a mini-review of the results!

 Kabob & Bites. 
 This is an apartment warming present for my rabbits once they get to their new cage, I'll update the review on this one once they actually try it!

 

Green Nibblers. 

 LOVE. They're reasonably priced, and they don't last longer than a week with my two buns. I wanted an alternative chew toy for them since they were not to thrilled with the apple sticks, so the nibblers are great.

 Timothy Carrot Chew Toy.
 This is a great, and reasonably priced chew toy that the rabbits loved to drag around. The top half of the carrot is already gone, so they're going to need a new one soon.

 

Oxbow Timothy Hay.

 I recently switched to Oxbow Timothy hay after researching that it was MUCH better and healthier than Kaytee Timothy Hay. They just love it! 

 Twig Ball.
 At first my mother thought this was one of her centerpieces for our kitchen since they look identical. The Twig Ball is one of my favorites and has a little nut inside that makes the ball jingle when it rolls. The rabbits loved chewing it, but it was completely destroyed in a matter of days. 

 Cat Litter Box.
 Litter boxes sold for bunnies are typically small which doesn't help my very large rabbit at all. I invested in getting a high backed cat litter box which has been AMAZING in eliminating the litter box mess that my rabbits have. Oscar tends do dig a lot, and when he does, the litter and hay in the litter box doesn't get everywhere anymore.

 

Twig Tunnel. 

 I just had to try it out, if anything it'll just become a big chew toy. My rabbits don't typically like going IN things, and so far they've tossed it around and chewed on it, so not bad.

SPECIAL PREVIEW ON THE TUTORIAL THIS THURSDAY!

Rabbit Condo

 

  

- Bunny