Venus Trapped in Mars Sports and Lifestyle Blog Dallas

21 April 2016

There Are Two Types of Girls


There are two types of girls in this world---- ahhh crap, this post doesn't have that much substance so I really should do a little more buildup before I jump right into the post topic. 

Hmm........ what to use for buildup?

How bout them Cowboys?

Did you hear about Harriet Tubman? 

I was at the Rangers Tuesday night and they replace the Lemon Chill with something called "Sno Blast." I'm thinking about filing a formal complaint.

Have you seen my new blogger template? You should buy 12 of them. One for right now, and 11 for later.

What about Chelsea's new custom blog design that I installed this morning? Pretty glorious if I do say so myself. 

Real Housewives Dallas totally sucks so far, wouldn't you agree? Boring x58.

CB and I just booked a vacation to VA Beach for July 4th to see my mom, we're excited.

ok fine. that's enough small talk for now. 
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF GIRLS IN THIS WORLD. 

The girls that can do a "hair flip"






And there are the girls who cannot. 








I got a Brazilian Blowout on Saturday and the lady didn't ask me what side I parted my hair on. Instead, she took a guess and just went for a right side part. This is not acceptable in Sarah land, I don't have hair that can go any way it so chooses. When my hair is parted, it stays that way and there is zero wiggle room. If one hair gets out of place, I feel as if my life has been turned upside down and I might never recover. 

I can't do the 90s-Cher-Horowitz-5-fingers-in-hair-hair flip.  

If there is an official term, please let me know, until then I'm going to refer to this as the hair flip girls vs the non-hair flip girls. 

I want to be a hair flip girl. I've tried to be a hair flip girl, but it just isn't in the cards for me. Hair flip girls have their shit together every day. 

Hair flip girls are the girls you hear about who get asked out at the gym. 
"Oh, I met him at the gym and he approached me while I was on the treadmill and asked me out." 

NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. That would literally never happen to me. In my 29 years on this planet no one has ever talked to me at the gym. CB even bolts in the other direction when we get to the gym. 

Sites like Match.com and eHarmony were invented for us non-hair flip girls. Hair flip girls find love in all the romantic places like Starbucks and Sprinkles Cupcake ATMs. I just barely managed to find love on an internet chat app that later crashed. 

Hair flip girls skip the lines at the club and get the red ropes lifted for them. I tried this in Vegas and you know what I got? I got a big ole pointer finger directing me to the back of the line. If I could hair flip (and offered more than a $20 bill and wasn't also trying to get my boyfriend in) I would've skipped right past that damn line. 

My boyfriend will never be able to just easily run his fingers through my hair, I'll never be able to look like anything other than a drenched Howard Stern after a rogue rain shower and I'll never find love at a Sprinkles Cupcake ATM. 

It just isn't in the cards for me because I'm non-hair flip girl with a non-negotiable left side hair part.


*Venus Trapped in Mars is not responsible for any braincells lost after reading this post.
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19 April 2016

6 Ways To Get Great Instagram Photos On Your Lunch Break

How to Get Great Instagram Photos



The other day I forgot my wallet and I was left scratching my head as to what to do on my lunch break. Sure I could have just worked through it, but I feel like breaks are given for a reason. Step away from work, stop looking at the computer and recharge yourself to make it through the rest of the day. I work in a cubicle, so I really enjoy some fresh air and a good stretch of the legs. 

I drove myself to the park just down the street from the office. I was in a fitbit workweek hustle competition at the time and thought I'd try and get a leg up on the competition by taking a long walk. On my walk, I stumbled on these little unicorn trees and snapped some pictures on my iPhone. 





I sat down, pulled up the A Color Story App, did some tweaking to the photo and voila I had content to post on Instagram. 

If you work in an office similar to mine, you probably don't have access to the same props and backgrounds for great instagram shoots that you do at home. After that day in the park, I decided to brainstorm some ways that I could be a productive instagrammer on my lunch break. Here is what I came up with! 


1. Find a park to go shoot

Like the photo above, you don't need a DSLR to get a great photo. You just need an iPhone and some great editing software. 

2. Find street art to photograph

Who says you have to be physically standing in front of the wall for it to be a great street art photo? Head to a neighborhood known for the street art and snap lots of options. Save the ones that don't make the cut for later. The vast majority of my Instagram isn't "instant." I'll post one photo I like now, then edit and save the others for a few weeks or even months down the road.  

3. Take note of architecture


Simple pictures of historic buildings, skylines and striking architecture generally do great on Instagram. Keep in mind the angle you're shooting. I like the photos that have 70% - 80% sky, and 20% - 30% of the building like the photo above. 


4. Use your trunk as a photo studio 

This might sound crazy, but keep a photo studio in your trunk. I drive an SUV so it's the perfect large flat service to lay out a background or backdrop and a few props to photograph. You've got plenty of space and all of the natural light you could possibly want! Backgrounds I've used in the past include blankets, scarves, foam core white poster board and even something as simple as graph paper.  


5. Hit up the Grocery Store's Flower Section or A Farmer's Market

I'm kind of torn on this one because it always feels like I'm cheating by doing this, but take photos at the flower market or farmers market. Everyone else is doing it... you should too. Peer pressure.
6. Look up hashtags for your city, see what other people are doing + where they're shooting





You don't always have to be snapping pictures to be productive. Spend your lunch break sitting in a park, eating Subway and looking up hashtags relevant to your city. Get a plan of attack on where you could go to get some photos in the future. Maybe you go over the weekend, or maybe you go on your next lunch break. For Dallas, here are some hashtags I follow... try using these and replacing Dallas or DFW with the name of your city.

InstaDFW
InstaDallas
DallasBlogger
DallasEats
DallasDrinks
DTXStreet
IGTexas
DallasFoodie
DallasStreetArt
Daylight and natural light is a precious commodity when it comes to instagram, so you gotta do what you gotta do to get great photos to post. This is especially true in the winter months when Daylight Savings Time ends, and it gets dark before you get home from work. 
Do you have any other tips or tricks to maximizing your lunch break to get great Instagram photos? 

 
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