topsy and havoc

giveaway over at Topsy Hair

2011-12-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you know that I have a giveaway going on at my other blog. Please stop by and check it out!
http://topsyhair.blogspot.com/

breaking up

2011-11-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

i don't know how to say this, blog. i'm really nervous so it would just be best if you were kind and understanding about it, blog. and it's not you, blog, it's me. promise. here goes. BLOG, we're over, you and i.

hey guys. i'm not going to post on this blog anymore. i'm focusing my efforts of my other blog now. and at first i was sad, because i feel like i'm burning a journal. but not so!

because at first, my other blog was just going to be about hair/beauty. but i decided i want to have my other blog be a continuation of this one, but with more consistent hair/beauty stuff and the process of opening up our own business (salon). i've been working really hard on it for a couple months now---writing posts, doing photo shoots of my work, my true/false stories, etc.and will be posting there consistently on the week days. i would LOVE it if you followed me over there. you've been so nice to follow me here, and i still want to be blog/real friends.

so get with the cool kids and get on over there.

hey blog, one last kiss before it's over for good?

g is for grateful

2011-11-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

it's been a long, hard year in some ways. we moved around a lot. we had a huge disappointment. we struggled to find a direction.

it's been a fabulous year in some ways. we got to move around a lot. we had a huge disappointment that we learned a lot from. we struggled to find a direction, and then found one and are so excited about it.

isn't it sometimes, all about how you view your experiences? they could be bad or good, i decide. i hated hearing that in the middle of things this past year. but. it's true. i look back now and see the bigger picture, and feel satisfied. i told God in a prayer last night, all that i'm thankful for, and the list was long. He is a good God.

i'm grateful to be where i'm at. living with my best friend, starting a new path with him, and feeling like myself.

i'm also grateful for my family. duh.

ps. see my other story of gratitude here. and happy thanksgiving!

a tuesday tip

2011-11-22T16:36:00.000-08:00

go here for a tuesday tip. if you want.

smile detector

2011-11-21T10:03:00.000-08:00

as i'm writing this, the crazy Christmas Shoes song just came on the radio. you know the one. i hate this song, and suddenly, my thoughts for this post are gone. done for. poof.
"sir i wanna buy these shoes, for my mamma please...."
heaven help us all.

john and i spent the weekend together. we had a fun time playing with the smile mode on our point and shoot camera. once someone smiles, it takes a picture and we found it pretty hilarious.

a dance party with john

2011-11-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

this evening, right before john was about to shave his head bald for the week, i cranked this song, and went and pulled him out of the bathroom. and we danced in that tiny hallway of ours. and i was busting moves that have never been known to man. because i just do like that. and have a good weekend.

i quit

2011-11-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

do you have a hard time quitting jobs? is it so incredibly awkward for you to just come out and quit or is it no big deal for you. i had a friend once tell me that she has no shame. if she hates a job, she just stops showing up. no two weeks notice, not even a phone call, just stops coming. she says it's their fault for not having a good working environment, or treating their employees right, etc. kind of hilarious, but still pretty messed up to not show. i just quit my job at a salon after two days of working. it was such a nightmare of an experience though, that i had no problems with saying "i quit". i will have to tell you what happened sometime. you will surely die at the insanity of it all.

i made a "big announcement" over here on my hair blog yesterday. check it out, i need your support.

sleeping in your own bed is for the birds

2011-11-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

top: me, scotty, charley, ann. dead asleep.

bottom: scotty. take a gander at them shorts.

i'm in this habit of making blog posts, and then not publishing them until much later. about 3 weeks ago, i uploaded these two photos with the title. now that i have my own bed back though., i must say what a crock that is. john and i got back last night from our trip to virginia and we've been unpacking today. it's been fun setting up my bedroom and opening boxes full of treasures that i had forgotten all about.

on our 3 day drive, john and i listening to a couple books on cds, ate fast food like it's nobody's business, stayed at a hotel and watched the presidential debate, (i look forward to those like i look forward to the new seasons of project runway) and of course, i belted songs at the top of my bloody lungs. No shame.

oh yeah and i have every intention of doing something cool and memorable tonight at 11:11 pm. 11/11/'11 at 11:11pm, i ......

we'll see.

in over my head.

2011-11-06T20:43:00.000-08:00

we've been busy. we moved to provo on monday (halloween). then we both got jobs. i started work yesterday (already)!!! no break i tell you. tomorrow we spend all day flying to DC. then to harrisonburg, virginia tomorrow late night. wake up tuesday, pick up our penske truck, load that beast up with much missed furniture and belongings, and start our 3 day drive back to utah. to my virginia friends, we originally had big plans to stay a couple days and hang out and see you all. but poopy work has foiled that plan and this has got to be a quick trip for us so we can get back to jobs. being an adult sucks sometimes i think. we're sorry and wish we could see everyone. this just gives us another excuse to come out again. for like a week. yippee! i'll make it happen.

wish us luck on another cross country drive.

just the two of us

2011-11-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

john and i moved into this little blue house this week. it's in provo. so far we've already seen friends and have run into people that we knew from before. and then of course my family is here.(!!!!!) the best part is feeling married again-living alone, just us two. i've been dancing like a fool in my living room to some of my favorite music to celebrate.

it doesn't get more ghetto than this

2011-11-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

having a real laundry table is overrated, anyway.

picture of my pops and little sis. back in the diz-ay.

PS. today is your last chance to enter my giveaway over here.

halloween

2011-11-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

i went as batman. john was a walmart worker for the garden center. my sister audge went as a lion. her makeup was incredible. my sister sarah is making the best face for a halloween picture in world.

did you have fun?

yellow happy halloween boo

2011-10-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

i wish it was true too! so bad. but it's false. thanks for your guesses! you good guessers, you. enjoy a fun music video that's perfect for halloween+good song.

what are our plans for halloween tonight? or did you already celebrate over the weekend? john and i found a cute blue house to live in. it's in provo. we are moving in today! so that's what we'll be doing. then to a party later. john won't tell me what he's dressing up as-he's being very suspicious about it all. as for me i've narrowed it down between two costumes. i'll choose minutes before leaving because that's how i roll. happy halloween!

cold sores

2011-10-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

having a cold sore is part of my identity. the above pictures are just three examples of when i've rocked a cold sore, but let me tell you, there are hundreds of real life examples. i was looking through pictures to pull out the ones that showcase my herpes. i swear it was every other picture of me during my teenage years.

one time i had a cold sore in the middle of my upper lip, like the one in the middle picture. but this sucker got so huge, and so swollen, that by day two it looked like i had a legitimate beak. my cold sores usually come on when i'm very stressed. or traveling. or busy, or happy, or laughing, or watching a movie, or, jk. but really, i get them when i'm stressed.

by now i'm an expert on this matter. let's go through the issues one by one. first. either you get cold sores or you don't. so if you know someone who has a cold sore but you need to use their chapstick or kiss them but you can't because you don't want to get a cold sore, you can stop being such an elitist. the thing is, unless it's common for you to get cold sores, you aren't going to catch one by using some one's chapstick. true story. but if i used a herpes wearer's chapstick, then yes, i could get one. because hello! i'm susceptible.

moving on.

i've had 25 years to master the art of getting rid of these babies asap. first sign of one coming on is the tingling. a little spot on your lip starts tingling and itches. you can't even see it yet, but you know it's there. well i've used all the products. ones people have sworn by. but i only swear by one product. carmex. yep. it only works though if you put it on the second you feel the tingling and keep it on-always. right when your lips are even thinking about being dry, re-apply the carmex on the cold sore. it's like every couple of hours. you'll still get the cold sore, but it will be way smaller and last way less time than before. pretty soon it will be nothing but a scab. and scabs are soooo manageable compared to puss.

trust me on that.

do you get cold sores? aren't people so rude about it? they stare at your lip in horror and act like if you even look their way they will surely die because they'll catch a cold sore and that's DISGUSTING. ppsssh. whatevs i think it's hot.

PS. visit topsyhair.blogspot.com and enter my give away for a chance to win pretty nail polish! fist pump.

true/false

2011-10-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

this one's for you cait and ryan.

i mentioned that john and i recently drove through couer d' alene, id. it's a gorgeous city up there. a lot of lake side houses. it has a bit of a reputation though for having some white supremacy groups and crazy satan compounds and stuff like that. i don't know if that has been exaggerated or not, but still.
well we stopped at taco bell there in couer d' alene. while we were eating, we noticed a guy staring us down. he was sitting a couple of tables away and had another guy with him. i'm tempted to call them boys because they were in their early 20's. but they both looked like they'd killed a man. freaky.
as john and i were walking out, we noticed they got up to. i said dude let's hurry and get in the car they are coming out. i had just sat down in the car and right as john was shutting his door, one of them said, "hey! why were you talking s#!* about us!?" john shut his car door and rolled down the window a couple inches. i said no no no let's just drive away. john said, " i don't know what you're talking about, we weren't talking about you man". by this time he was standing right next to our window. "you were pointing at us through the window when you were walking into taco bell," he said. he was mad. john said whatever, rolled up the window, and started the car. the guy yelled to his friend to get in their car. they were going to follow us! john and i decided they can't follow us if we don't go anywhere so john turned the car off and after about a minute of sitting in the car and them in their car waiting for us to pull out, they both got out of the car. they both walking fast up to our car cussing at us. they were yelling at john to get out of the car and stop being a wuss. not said so kindly though. so john turned on the car again and started to pull out. they ran to their car again. john pulled back into the parking spot and turned the car off again! so they pulled back into the spot right next to us this time. how long was this going to last? they sat there talking. finally john rolled down his window a little bit and the kid in the passenger seat rolled his down. john told them we are calling the cops right now. the kid said, "you bleeps aren't worthy our bleeping bleepity time". john said, "yeah that's obvious since you just spent 10 minutes on us". the kid said, "yeah right more like 5 minutes." and they drove away.
john and i looked at each other and started busting up.

true or false?

hallo freaking ween

2011-10-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

1. taking inventory of the delicious loot with cuzzy eirene and cute little audge. THE color of the year 1991? um turquoise, duh. 2. practicing my modeling before trick or treating with audge, cuzzy kelsey and little seth. 3. cutting a dress for a halloween costume. "audge, lay down here so i can figure out where to cut this sucker".

ps. go follow topsyhair.blogspot.com, for a giveaway coming soon. pretty holiday nail polishes. followers only.

it's a good idea

2011-10-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

it's a really good idea for you to go check out my new hair blog. i've been working hard on it, doing photo shoots and gathering material so it doesn't end up a flop like my last one. i posted my first post last night, and will continue to post regularly over there.

as for this blog, it's still here. sporadic bursts of posting energy will stay the usual.

report

2011-10-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

we just got done traveling all through idaho. up through montana, over to couer d'alene, dropped down into lewiston, id. we visited john's sister, husband and five kids. went to a soccer game. walked along the river. got frozen yogurt and made cookies. it was fun and i'm so glad we went. thanks kira! then drove a different 10 hour route back down to idaho falls where we are staying with john's parents for a few days. we drove through hell's canyon and a lot of little tiny towns. ate at a family diner where the waitress kept referring to john and i as kids. "what are you kids going to order?" "you kids have a safe drive." i loved it. we went through caldwell and boise. twin falls and other places.

john and i have traveled around this here country of the usa a lot since we've been married. we've been traveling fools, really. driven our little honda from one side of the country a few times. driven from north to south. he listens to me belt beyonce and mariah carey at the top of my lungs. i listed to him tell me stories of his childhood and i almost pee my pants with laughter. driving with john isn't so bad and we'll be doing it a lot this month. so.....

in between, we'll be looking for housing in utah, and visiting with friends and family. i have a hair project of sorts that i'll be doing in the next month as well. each style will be photographed and probably some tutorials that i can't wait to share. until next time.

let me explain

2011-09-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

i think it's about time i explained myself. I've rotating between 4 outfits for about a year now. that's a slight exaggeration, not about the year, but about only 4 outfits. but barely an exaggeration. whew. it feels good to get that off my chest. so now you know why i am wearing the same black and white striped shirt in almost every post. which leads me to let you in on what's coming up for john and i in the next month or so. we are moving in 10 days. we'll go visit john's sister. we'll go visit our friends. we'll go to las vegas. we'll fly to DC then drive to harrisonburg, va. we'll finally get all of our stuff from our storage unit out there (including my clothes- which are out of style by now, i'm sure) and pack it up in a penske. then we'll drive across the country to utah where we will move in to a place.

i can't believe it's been a year. A year! (almost) since we left new york, where we got to live for a few short months. so much has happened since then and nothing at all. i feel a recap coming on soon with details that were never told here.

we're excited for what's next. so many things to look forward to. seeing and living near family and friends again, the holidays, work, traveling and the seasons changing. and more.

want to know where we are moving next?

2011-09-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

to spain!

just kidding.

john and i are moving to utah. utah county specifically, or a surrounding town. we are really excited. sad to leave my job-it's been a good one. but so happy for what is next. really, we could go anywhere. and anywhere turned into utah for the following reasons: it is close to family. it is close to friends. it is pretty there. we like being by the mountains. utah has hot summers for me and cold winters for john.

sure, utah has it's cons. where doesn't though?

so many places got ruled out for one reason or another. cost of living, weather, things to do, too far from family, and, and. utah valley held on strong. it kept it's index finger and thumb pinching our shirt sleeves saying, " iii'mmmm stiiiiilllll heeerreeee". and at first i said, " kick rocks, utah. been there, done that". but in the end i had changed my tune. utah was good to me. and it will be good again. it feels right.

but john and laura. what will you be doing in utah? well that's for us to know and for you to find out in a couple of weeks. it's good though. oh it's good.

oh but this next bit is revolutionary! we are planning to stay. for a while. like maybe 10 years. do you know what 10 years means for john and i? if you don't, please be reminded that we have lived in 5 different states in the 3 years that we've been married. it's been fun and adventurous. and i could write a novel about it all.

this new plan though, well it requires us to stick around. it requires us to have some roots and have a home for a chunk of years. and we're ok with that. no, we're ready for that.

and after 6 months when i'm ready to bail and i say "hey john, let's move to new york again"? hhmmm....

nope. we can always visit. but not live...yet.

can you relate at all

2011-09-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

i think shower loofahs are disgusting. what's hiding in there?

i hate the word epic but i don't hate the people that say it.

i bite my nails. i know!
yellow gold is prettier than white gold.
i only wash my face when i take a shower. which unfortunately is not every day.
i claim to hate twilight but i've seen all the movies so far. heaven help me.

dry sockets and other things

2011-09-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

when i was in high school, i had a good friend get his wisdom teeth out. dude was out for like a week. i remember thinking he was such a baby. now i'm thinking either we are both babies or we both have had a hard time about it all. got myself some nice dry sockets after all the barfing drama. good news is i don't look like i got jumped in an alley anymore.

my buff brother seth and i were just leaving las vegas to drive up to utah. we made a stop first at my beloved taco bell. figured a bean burrito isn't exactly a liquid but it would do me right. at that stage, i was still swollen and i had a bruisestache, along with other bruises on my cheek and jaw. i still looked hott, but you already figured that. jk, lol, brb.

a nice taco bell worker was humming around wiping off already clean tables. right when seth got up to go to the bathroom, she came over and asked, "honey are you ok?" not catching on, i said, "yeah i'm great, thank you. how are you?" she ignored the question. "is there anything i can do for you?" ....."nope. but thanks!" right as she was walking away, i realized she probably thought i got beat up by my "boyfriend". aka seth. i felt glad to know she has the guts to ask because she might ask someone who really is being tossed around someday.

oh right. i said and other things. hmm. oh ok! how about this? you know how when you stub a toe you KEEP stubbing that same toe? it's like once it's been stubbed, it has a target on it and walls and curbs and doors and all sorts of other things aim for it. well i haven't been stubbing the same toe lately, but i have been cutting people off while driving. and it's a shame they don't hear me say "ooops i'm sorry i'm sorry" as i try my best to speed up in my weak car.
the other day i underestimated distance and i cut someone off. and every turn i made after, they made. right on my tail. and i was thinking of a way to ditch this sucker. so when i headed into the domino's parking lot, which is shared with kmart, i took an turn down an isle and pretended to be going to kmart. but really, of course, i was going to domino's. turns out he was too. i parked and watched him like a hawk. he got out, tall, buff, and bald and walked into the store. i thought he might chew me out or trip me or something. i had to pick up my pizza and aaahhh what if he was just ordering and was planning on hanging out in there until his order was ready. i could be waiting in the car forever while my pizza was ready and getting cold. a disguise was the best option. took off my cardigan, pulled my hair up, and put my sunglasses on.

he worked there-a delivery guy. and my disguise seemed to work because he only glanced at me a couple times from behind the counter.

i think i'm paranoid. dateline and 20/20 has really screwed with me.

i got my wisdom teeth out

2011-09-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

i came down to las vegas to get my wisdom teeth out. had big plans to get my shop on and swim a lot. but you see all four teeth came out on tuesday morning and by noon i was throwing up. and again. aaaannnd again. every thirty minutes i swear. at 4:30 in the morning on wednesday, my mom came into my room. i was sitting up in bed about ready to heave again. we went to the ER and i was a sight. bra-less, sweat pants, my hair all fuzzy looking like someone gave me lots of noogies, bulldog cheeks and cracked lips. a nice blue bruise on my right cheek. my toenails and fingernails did look good though, and that is always something to be proud of. turns out i had a horrible reaction to the anesthesia and they gave me some nausea medicine through an IV. well yesterday i was wiped and my abs and back felt like i had the workout of a life time. needless to say i laid on the couch all day and watched the kardashians. today i finally got around to floating around in the pool and coming to terms with going back tomorrow.

last week

2011-09-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

last week was our 3 year wedding anniversary. it was receiving my purple salt water sandals in the mail. it was hiking table rock. it was a belated birthday dinner for john and his brother in idaho falls. it was a picnic in the park with his and hers pizza. last week was hiking table rock mountain. it was the federal reserve staying at jackson lake lodge where john works for their annual conference. john says they're the worst tippers on the planet. hm. good job, feds. it was getting re-trained on doing facials (it's been a while, i'm rusty). last week was getting best 90 minute deep tissue massage i could ever imagine. last week was making an appointment to get my wisdom teeth out on tuesday- all four. these suckers are coming in with a mean spirit about them. ice cream for days, thank you.

thinking you might die is a bad feeling

2011-08-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

like an expensive dye job, yesterday had it's highlights and low lights. we (me, john, mother-in-law) decided to climb table rock mountain on our day off. it's been decided, hiking is for the birds. at least hiking 14+miles is. here's the story of when i thought i was going to die. but first! the highlights: funny car at the trail head. hot pink stretchy pants with high-top purple converses for my view up the switch backs. beautiful scenery. reaching the summit.

yeah you can just go ahead and wipe that smile off your faces, john and laura. because things are about to get ugly. the last 1/2 mile before getting to the top of the mountain was the hardest. we had to really book though, because a storm was coming in. it doesn't take a weather man to read those clouds. john's mom decided to start heading back before getting to the top so we told her we'd catch up with her on the way back down. we reached the top, then started our way down and a fast pace. jogging. because dude i didn't want to get hit by lightning.

pretty soon the storm clouds covered the whole sky and they were so dark and we were so drenched within seconds. it was a serious down pour of rain. there is a long ledge that you walk across for a while before you really start going down the mountain. lightning started cracking all around us and the thunder was so loud we had to yell to hear each other. then the hail came. they were small hail but it was a thick sheet. they were nailing us so hard it hurt and it was so thick it looked like a blizzard. i was scared to death. i honestly can't remember the last time i was THAT scared. i really thought we were going to get hit by lightning.

the recipe went as follows:

How to fry two people to death:

you will need:

lightning dancing so close all around the people

loud thunder every couple of seconds.

*make sure the people are completely soaking wet and completely exposed on top of a mountain.

give it a couple seconds and wallah! their toast.

jogging was no longer an option because we had reached the steep switch backs and the trail was now a running river of mud and water. we kept moving slowly and eventually the hail stopped and we were far enough down into the canyon that i wasn't scared of the lightning anymore.

good news is, we kept catching up with pink pants on the way down and gave moral support to each other about crossing the (now) big fast river. and told him he should be an official representative for converse. and what the? my font just changed without me doing anything.

by the time we got to the car we were muddy, wet, tired, sore, cold, and had/have welts on our arms and legs from the hell hail.

glad we did it. glad it's over.

it's been 3 years

2011-08-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

as of yesterday, it's been 3 years since john and i tied the knot. can i tell you a little bit about what it was like to marry this guy and what it's been like ever since? to be general, it's been fantastic. but here are some of the details.

we had a ~~reception~~ party the night before. i had more fun at my own than i've had at anyone elses. it needs to be that way. the dinner was goood. the dessert was incredible. having good food and being able to stuff myself was really the only thing i cared about. the weather was pretty much perfect. the concert that john and sven put on was entertaining. that night (the night before the wedding) i slept like a rock. no staying up with a racing mind. no dude. my head hit the pillow and i was out.

next morning, i got up, rinsed, and was ready to do this. the ceremony was done around 11:30am. so we headed over to our luncheon. we had left for our honey moon by early afternoon.

i look back at the wedding with only good memories. it was simple, and perfect for us.

people that knew john from high school would tell me they always wondered who john hendricks would marry. they are always shocked to find out i'm so normal. either that or they told me "there will never be a dull moment".

people were right. he's always got something up his sleeve. always a prank to play on a university. always a hilarious prop or sign to put in a high traffic area. always a grand opening to hit up for some free food. he always has a good story to tell.

john is interesting. it's fun being married to someone who in interesting. he 's interesting because he's creative, smart, funny, quirky, talented. he's interesting because he isn't afraid to be himself. john is john. do you know john? geez you really should if you don't.

my favorite part about him though, is the guy is so nice. he's so nice to me and to everyone. i need that. at the end of day, i just wanted a nice guy. and i got it + a lot more. happy anniversary john. see? i'm pretty nice too.

last week

2011-08-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

last week was visiting john at the art fair where he was volunteering at the kid's booth. it was our rock climbing gym memberships expiring. it was jumping off a high rock into the lake. it was passing several hikers on a trail who were saying " bear ahead". it was talking loudly on the trail and picking up big sticks just in case. it wasn't seeing the bear. last week was john's birthday. it was my back going out again and being crooked. it was visiting a roommate in the ER after a bad bike crash. it was wrapping my roommate's arm at home, avoiding eye contact with those many stitches. it was eavesdropping on awesome conversations on the bus to and from work. last week was putting my foot down. it was those new wendy's fries. last week was getting curious about dying my eyebrows at work, accidentally picking a too dark color, and ending up looking like groucho marx.

would you rather

2011-08-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

would you rather:

smell like b.o. or have nasty breath at a party?(no deodorant or gum available)

get up early or stay up late?

meet oprah or ellen?

go to an amusement park or see a broadway show?

watch seinfeld or the office?

skydive or bungee jump?

wedding hair

2011-08-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

on saturday i did the hair for a wedding. the bride+3 bridesmaids. the blond below is the bride. her dress was simple and elegant and the wedding was outdoors up in grand teton national park. she wanted her hair to match the feel of the dress and outdoor ceremony. i think i succeeded in giving her what she wanted. we both loved how it turned out!

do you like the look of updos? or gravitate more towards wearing your hair down and more simple?

fifteen

2011-08-16T18:01:00.000-07:00

10 years ago today, i was fifteen years old. i had just gotten home from soccer practice. before practice, i had spent most of the day at my friend horito's house. summer break was coming to an end. my mom and dad, audge and seth, and two cousins were at home. it was seth's birthday. the phone rang while we were talking to some visitors in the front room. i answered the phone. it was my uncle and he sounded panicked. he told me he needed to talk to my dad, said it was an emergency. i remember feeling panicked too. i went into the living room and handed the phone to my dad. i remember my mom rushing out. i remember they were both sobbing and i remember they told us scotty had died in a car accident. all the little minutes in between and after are a blur.

scotty was driving home to las vegas from utah, where he had been living with my aunt and uncle for the summer. he fell asleep at the wheel about 45 minutes out and was killed instantly in the crash.

there are so many aspects of scotty's death that i could write about. who it impacted and how. what i learned from it. watching my parents go through the unbearable pain. friends lost and friends gained from it. depression and comfort. loneliness and support. not knowing how to deal and cope. but God took care of us, as he always does.

this anniversary has been the hardest in a long time. my mom said the same thing. not sure why this year more than others. it's just that we're all missing him like crazy. can't wait to see him again, to pick up right where we left off. love you scotty. love you seth-happy birthday. and love you family.

last week

2011-08-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

last week was frozen yogurt and take out chinese food. it was doing the hair for a wedding party. it was a drive with john to pretty places. it was playing a prank at work. it was 75 degrees. it was getting all soapy and shampoo-y in the shower just to have the landlord turn the water off at the moment that i really needed to rinse. last week was forgetting to go to a co-workers wedding. it was getting my first credit card. it was doing a cooking collaboration meal with john. it was project runway on mylifetime.com. a girls night out to dinner. it was watching justin bieber's somebody to love music video several times. last week was a $40 tip. overall, last week was good.

love YOU-OU

2011-08-11T21:49:00.000-07:00

i got to talking with my sister tonight about my brother scotty who died in a car accident 10 years ago. i mentioned his death anniversary is coming up and he recently had a birthday, so naturally, he's on our minds.

typically i write this blog for other people, not for myself. if i wrote for myself, this blog would be a lot different. i think i will let it be different though, for this month, because i want to talk about scotty a couple of times. might be boring for you, but it sure as hell will be therapeutic for me.

besides the obvious songs/bands that remind me of scotty, (bone thugs n harmony, nirvana, weezer, etc.) these two songs always remind me of him. r. kelly's "if i could turn back the hands of time" because scotty would always belt out the very end/try and hit the notes of "love YOU-OU!" dude and his voice would always crack. oh come on. go ahead and have a listen/watch. you know it's been forever since you've heard this sucker.

and foreigner's "i want to know what love is" because he just plain loved it.

rich person

2011-08-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

i have so much to write about. and lots of pictures to share. i've just been busy being a busy adult which really blows. but my story about a rich person takes precedence over all the other stuff i'll be sharing soon.

i was doing a pedicure on a rich lady the other day. her friend was getting a pedicure next to her and my client kept saying things like this to her friend:

"i just got that pair of heels i've been wanting for only 800 dollars!"

"every woman needs a pair of dolce & gabbana heels in their closet"

"my husband said we should buy a 'gucci' hand bag for our friend for watching our kids for the weekend and i was like hello! that is more expensive than you're thinking! it's not like it's something cheap like 'coach'!"

"since kim kardashian and i have the same body, i just buy the exact same clothes that she wears. i mean ya, it gets expensive but it's soooo worth it."

all this as i'm cleaning the gunk out from under her toe nails.

she really treated me like shite too. like a real low class loser.

and i kind of wanted to file too much and leave her with stubby little nubs.

the conversation turned to politics and then she started saying stuff like this:

"the problem with americans is they don't know how to live within their means"

"it's like people here see something they want, and they just get it. it's so ridiculous"

"over indulgent and greedy people are the ones that made the economy crash"

no joke.

goodnight.

august means

2011-08-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

august means that today, august 6th, my brother scotty would have turned 29 years old. or did turn 29 today. do the years and stuff work the same in heaven? well either way, he's 29 earth years old today. happy birthday scotty. august also means that on the 16th my other brother seth will have a birthday and that day will also be the 10 year anniversary of scotty's death. august also means that john will also turn 29 on the 18th. a few days after that, john and i will celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary. that's what august means to me.

question

2011-08-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

trivia question:

what is the number one most used word on the bachelor/bachelorette?

every single season, same word. over and over.

winner gets a full 15 minutes of attention and good vibes sent your

way while i meditate.

pictures of tourists

2011-07-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

i drove up to the park to pick up john on friday night. i came around a corner to see lots of tourists parked in and on the side of the road. now meese get lots of attention. but not this much. no-there is only one thing that causes this sort of traffic jam. a bear! so of course i pulled over and got out and said what is it? a grizzly with three cubs. booyah! i said, where? right through there. i walked to a better spot, right next to a ranger and holy sh a big ol grizzly and her three little cute cubs 50 yards off the road. i was excited and pretty scared. the ranger let me see for a good bit then told me to get back he's coming this way. i said done. i was only about 2 minutes away from john's work so i went and got him and on our way back, i said dude take some pictures of this. so we rolled down the windows and were immediately swarmed and attacked with mosquitoes. so up the windows went and decided pictures through dirty windows were better than clear pictures with lots of mosquito bites. look at her! my summer is complete.

conversation with roommate.

2011-07-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

roommate 1: where are you going?

me: to the gym

roommate 1: oh. bye

me: see ya.

i walked out the door as my other roommate pulled into the drive way.

other roommate: where are you going?

me: to the gym

other roommate: (frowny face) no don't go.

me: ok

other roommate: we'll go for a run instead.

me: no. a walk.

other roommate: ok a speed walk

i walked back inside.

roommate 1: i thought you were going to the gym

me: not anymore

roommate 1: why?

me: because other roommate said not to.

roommate 1: it's that easy with you?

me: yep.

teenage checklist

2011-07-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

when i was in the fifth grade, the teacher showed the class a movie about growing up. bodies changing, puberty, all that stuff that makes you want to shudder. my 10 year old self got to thinking though. i made a checklist of all the things that needed to go down before i could be a real official teenager!

-shave armpits

-shave legs

-wear deodorant

-wear make-up

-start my (.)

-get boobs/wear a bra

-and another unmentionable

i was so pumped every time i got to check one of these things off my list. please tell me i was not alone. ..... .... i was, huh? bummer.

2 good ideas.

2011-07-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

john and i have two really good ideas.

1. before you go on a long flight, order and pick up a large pizza. wrap each piece in tin foil and stack them in your carry on. when you are on the flight, you'll get hungry. so eat a piece of pizza. it will smell and look good so everyone around you will get jealous. so sell the rest of those suckers for three bucks a piece and make some sweet cash.

2. start collecting cigarettes and wine and put them in storage now so that when the world is coming to an end and you can't get supplies and goods very easily, you can barter those for anything you need and want. we'll be fresh out of luck if we'll want some delicious home made bread (i'm no baker). but if i know someone who can bake and also smokes, we'll do an even trade.

you're welcome.

next thursday

2011-07-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

next thursday will be good. next thursday will be the project runway season 9 premier. next thursday i will get off work early. next thursday i will compete in a pig wrestling contest at the county fair. and that, is no joke.

blog is a weird word

2011-07-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

i remember the first time i heard of blogs. it was in my lame photography class in college. the professor wanted us to start a blog. said he could look at our photos there. i said what's a blog. he told us and it seemed too complicated for me so i must have found some way to get around it. that class was really lame. oh i said that already.

it took me getting my rotted appendix surgically removed and then catching the flu one week after surgery, causing me to barf over 30 times in two days, to start a blog. i had reached an all time low from the boredom of being in bed that i thought even blogging could be better than just sitting. after all, i was newly married.

for a long time, i blogged when i was bored. or when i had pictures of myself that i looked cute in.

but that was then.

i like blogging now. i don't wait until i'm bored to blog. i look forward to it. i love writing, i love being myself, and i love you guys. you who read my blog. i love reading your comments, i love that you follow me. you're just really cool. so thanks!

jackson lake

2011-07-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

a while back, john and i went kayaking in jackson lake. it was my first day out in the sun this summer. john did all the work paddling. i talked and looked at the scenery. there were a lot of people on the lake that day. kayaking, canoeing, and fishing. we thought it was hilarious to row towards people at full speed and then turn fast once we were within ten feet away. made people feel pretty weird i'm sure. john told me how earlier that week when he was kayaking with a friend, he rowed up to someone and asked with a southern accent, "scuse may. where are the teetawns"? (the tetons are in your face. literally right in front of you). he said they pointed to a different mountain range. john suggested we try it again. row up to a family and ask them if they could please tell us where the tetons were? we rowed up but john couldn't do it because i was laughing too hard and was giving it all away. sometimes john and i are five years old.

good at being bad

2011-07-17T23:13:00.000-07:00

per the request of our fans. ok fine per the request of one fan, here are the lyrics to "good at being bad"

by john hendricks.

ya'll are up in my grill

you don't wanna know how that makes me feel

we're gonna take it slow

to take you on the street and show you how i roll, yo

chorus:

we were good on accident

and all the good we've done is irrelevant yo

we would admit our slim shady side if we could

but how can we be bad if we're lookin so good?

listen up ya'll

cuz here's the deal

my slim trim bod, gives me this appeal

we're gonna take it slow

to show you how to crypt walk and how to flow yo

chorus

mercedes benz, show me the bill

the cost aint the matter

my money is for real

we're gonna take it slow

to put you through the gang haze so it's official

from fashion to family, it's easy to see

that i could fill a whole city with the people who copy me

the senate is scared, trying to cover their seats

cuz they knew if i ran, they'd be facing defeat

since we can't help but set the trends

we're dressed to kill

my tennis shoes alone are worth a mil

it's time to get in poppin, we'll take it slow

to train you like a soldier to knock 'em dead yo

chorus (twice)

there you have it. pure genius in my humble opinion. i can say that because i didn't write it.

now go watch the video/listen to the song.

too entangled.

2011-07-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

yesterday morning i drove down to utah to hang out with my three sisters. i drove a different route than ever before. kind of complicated. lots of turns on weird highways-in and out of idaho and wyoming. it took off an hour+ of the other more normal way. it had it's cons though. one being country music stations as the only option. i turned it off quick before my mood turned severely upset. but there was about ten minutes of normalish radio before things went country and sour.

that song by evanescence came on. i think that song was written to try and make me want to be real frustrated or punch a wall or be a big rebel. but instead i laughed through the whole song. it's a funny song. how about that whisper screaming that goes on? pretty good stuff. the video is even better.

but here is the real point of this post. i'm here with my sisters and we're having such a good time and i'm in love with them in a sister/best friend way. and one of those sisters, recently started a website that is one of the funniest/true to life websites. she recently wrote a post called "ode to my body" that is accompanied by a hilarious picture. it's funny but it's true too. how we look at our bodies, how we feel about them, and how sometimes we are trapped. look at it if you have any sense! the whole website. so many delights!

pictures to come of me and my sisters.

would you rather

2011-07-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

would you rather:

browse youtube or blogs?

have an iphone or a droid?

run on a treadmill or outside?

buzz your head bald or have really black hairy legs that you couldn't shave?(girls)

be so shy or an attention hog?

watch modern family or glee?

i loved reading your comments on the last would you rather. some people would rather streak at the super bowl than sing the national anthem, myself included i think. most everyone likes in-n-out better than five guys. ppssshh.

dinner by the river

2011-07-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

it's times like this when i don't bring my camera and have to take pictures of the pretty scenery and friends with my phone. john and i both had yesterday and today off of work. so last night we decided last minute to go to idaho falls. we saw thor in the dollar theater which might be the dumbest movie ever made. then today before we left, we hit up the dollar theater again to see x-men. john thanked me profusely several times for going to two movies with him in less than a day as i am not a huge movie person. x-men was well worth it because of the small comic book nerd crowd that was in the theater and all their glorious commentary. then we came home and went straight out to have a delicious dinner with friends at a teepee camp. we grilled kebabs and went out on a little boat and ate dutch oven cobbler. the weather was perfect. i ate like it was my last meal and felt fat and happy.

can you relate

2011-07-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

i look better naked than with clothes on.

i hate the word hubs.

i could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

i like cats better than dogs.

i've never seen titanic.

fireworks

2011-07-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

fourth of july was fun. would have been funner with john. i hate that he had to work until 11pm on that night. i hate that he has work until 11pm every night. me and friends went to a bbq at the park and then watched the fireworks. i've realized life would be a lot happier, care free place if there were no mosquitoes. and that's all i have to say about that.

freedom

2011-07-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

freedom is one of my very favorite words. being/feeling free is on the top of my priority list. i want to be free religiously. i want to feel free in my relationships. i want to be free from my own insecurities. i want to feel free to be me. and hello! i want to live in a free country. check. see? isn't freedom the best. so i was real patriotic today at work with my outfit. patriotic and busy. not. everyone on the planet was out enjoying the weather on this fabulous holiday and not getting their hair and nails did. and really, who could blame them? not me.

update and an answer

2011-06-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

it's false. well it's all true except for the part where i went through with the dare. i couldn't do it. now, four years later, i could probably do it. maybe.

i've been busy lately. working a lot. did you know i'm doing nails now? weird. since i have a cosmetology license, i can do hair, nails, facials, waxing, etc. etc. but i've always just stuck with hair and facial waxing. i was never interested in doing nails and i didn't feel confident enough to take clients either. my school didn't focus on them very much at all. my boss got wind though that i had a cosmetology license, not just a hairstylist license and she about flipped her lid with excitement. i told her to simmer down because i didn't feel like i was good enough to do nails. so she trained me. and i started taking clients. and as a matter of fact i'm booked up solid this week with mostly manicures and pedicures. who freaking knew.

i'm kind of enjoying it. being more versatile is never a bad thing.

true. or. false.

2011-06-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

john and i met in college. that part is true. i loved it on the rare occasion that a teacher would say, "everyone mark 'true' for # 39 on your test sheets". boom! i'll take it (may be the only question i get right)!!

so john and i met in college. we went to a conservative, private, christian college. cough-byu-idaho-cough. one time we were playing truth or dare. i was nice and dared him with wimpy dares. example: i dare you to go to that girls apartment and give a love note to whoever answers the door. oooooo reeaaaal scary. he did it. easy cheese.

he gave me a not wimpy dare. devotional was going to be happening the next day. "devotional" was an hour long thing that happened every tuesday. a spiritual thing, that a large percent of the university went to, to listen to a church talk and even dress up for. on a tuesday! the expectations these days.

he dared me to stand outside of the building where devotional was held-the main building, with thousands of college kiddies and professors walking in- with a sign that said "hell no! i won't go!" and chant it.

well it was a hilarious dare but it was for the next day and i thought john would forget. he didn't forget. and he said i was a wimp in a nice, but peer-pressure kind of way. and i said it was unfair and he said it was my idea to play truth or dare in the first place. and so i did it.

do you want to know what happened next? well i'll tell you! if you guess right. but that's not really giving the answer away. ?

so. true or false?

a dance party

2011-06-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

-it's no secret that i'm married but i live with roommates. it's not a secret because i told you.

-it's no secret that i live in wyoming.

-not a secret that i love jennifer lopez. ok maybe that was a secret but it's not anymore and it's completely beside the point anyway.

the point is, that the other night one of my roommates threw a dance party in our living room. it was to start around 11pm and last just 30 minutes. i like that idea. dance your a off for a good thirty minutes and then be done with it. rather than do half-hearted dancing for a song here and there for a couple hours. un-satisfying. i came out of my room after the first couple of songs to dance in my corner. i was being courteous and not interfering with any potential single people mingling/meeting/flirting/proposals. i'm taken, boys.

alright so i just mentioned roommates but this is where wyoming comes in.

the fourth song came on. delicious hip hop/pop song. i saw some synchronizing of some sort happening. and foot stomping and heel clicking. them darn singles managed to make a line dance out of it! the blasphemy! it didn't end there. oh no it dit-nt. next song, same thing. so i backed up slowly into my room. horrified.

pictures of a summer

2011-06-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

summer of '08. it was a good summer. the summer i got engaged. the summer i got married. that summer i had picnics with john. i rode my bike all over town. i went to lots of concerts. i floated down rivers on tubes and rock climbed. i ate popsicles constantly and was outside any chance i got. yep it was a good summer.

it's finally summer here. the weather made a turning point as of yesterday and i think it's going to be sunshine from here on out. we went white water rafting last night. originally supposed to have been on the river by 7:00. (we all got off work around 6). 7 turned into 8:30pm by the time we started floating. it was cold but we finished the stretched right before it got dark (or too dark). excited for another good summer.

would you rather

2011-06-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

would you rather:

eat at in-n-out or five guys?

watch so you think you can dance or american idol?

go to a movie or stay at home and read a good book?

bake a dessert or cook a meal?

wear black or white?

sing the national anthem or streak at the super bowl?

just wondering.

35 years. how many days is that!?

2011-06-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

happy anniversary (3 days ago) to my mom and pops. 35 years, yo! that's a freaking long time. i'm so glad those two got married because i got a whole lot of best friends out of it. siblings+parents= my besties. (+ some others too, but this post is about family so just chill). things i really like about my parents' wedding day even though i wasn't there: my dad's braces. my dad's suit. my mom's dress. my mom looking exactly like my sister audge. my dad's sandy blond hair. who knew? you're getting pretty gray there, pops. just kidding. ahem. love you two. thanks for it all.

low talker

2011-06-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

you'd think that since i was the one taking a picture of us together, i would be able to time it right so that i wasn't blinking. not so. we didn't end up going to idaho falls this weekend after all. when it came right down to it, i decided i could wait until next week to get my shop on, when we will both have the same two days off to spend together. instead we had a date here in jackson. we went to dinner, then to "shoot out" on the square. it 's about a 20 minute show that they do every night. acting cowboys/cowgirls get in a shoot out-shooting blanks. it's pretty funny and entertaining. afterwards we went on a long walk and i told john about important things...like what's been happening on the bachelorette.

when i got home from work today, john told me that he went to church and since he wasn't a familiar face, the teacher asked him, and other newbies, to introduce themselves. then john told me that when it was his turn, he purposely talked so ridiculously quiet that nobody could hear him, just because. he demonstrated for me and i was standing right next to him and could barely hear the guy. he said his name, how long we'll be living in jackson, and that he had a wife. wasn't whispering, just low talking. i told him he's pretty gutsy but even a couple hours later i keep laughing about it.

not a post about a moose believe it or not

2011-06-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

i'm going to idaho falls tomorrow with john. we're in need of some serious hot date time and plus i need to pick up some supplies (aka maybe a new pair of shoes). they are for work i swear, geesh. i mentioned before, my cowboy boots aren't doing me right and neither is this business casual concept. i don't know if you have ever been to idaho falls or not, but around here in the good and small ol' town of jackson, idaho falls is considered a shopping heaven. let me tell you, in no circumstances whatsoever should idaho falls EVER be considered a shopping heaven...no matter what it's being compared to. BUT i'm still really grateful that it's pretty close by and it will do just fine. i'm also really grateful that it has a five guys. have a great weekend.

working

2011-06-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

i started my new job at shooting star spa this week. guys. i'm really loving this job. i'm the spa coordinator and i will also be doing hair there. shooting star is a golf club. it's in teton village, which is such a beautiful location, and the spa (and everything else at the clubhouse) is so nice. you know how sometimes the first week or two of any job sucks so bad because you don't know anything yet and you're being crammed with lots of info that you know you'll forget? well hallelujah this time it's different. there has been a lot of information to learn and things to do but a great boss and a relaxed feel of a place make all the difference.

in the last couple of days i've realized:

-really rich people don't care about prices.

-really rich old men buy expensive combs sometimes just cuz

-you can make bank being a massage therapist but how on earth can anyone give a 90 min. deep tissue massage? i can't last 5 minutes before my fingers, hands and arms are seriously cramping.

in the last couple of days i've learned:

-i can swap hair services for massages, facials, whatever i want. (the therapists want to get their hair done, and in return will give me 60-90 min. massages). booyah!

-not to wear my cowboy boots for 9 hour days anymore. these growing bunions are no joke.

-how to use excel. kind of. my boss said "you know how to use excel, right?" instead of sticking with my old ways, i said "no but i'll figure it out". it's coming along.

brotha and sista

2011-06-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

these two came to visit over the weekend. we went on a pretty hike and on the way we stopped dead in our tracks when we heard something that was so close grunt at us. it sounded like a bear and we were shaking in our boots. after being frozen, but talking loudly so we didn't startle it, for three minutes, seth saw that it was a moose about 50 feet away. relief. kind of- but still scary. we heard people coming on the trail so we waited for them. it was an old couple and the man said he bet we were glad they were old because if it came down to anything dangerous, we could totally out run them. he said it, not me. after din din with john in the park, we went bouldering outside. well, i sat on a blanket. they bouldered.

on sunday we went to a potluck for singles. i was desperate for a free feast so i figured i could pull it off because i was bringing two single people with me. acting as their host in a sense ya know? that's normal. turns out those two siblings of mine were just as anti social as i am at the potluck but they don't even have an excuse. audge even suggested that we pretend like we don't speak english. that way no one would find out that i was a married girl just trying to get a free dinner + audge and seth wouldn't have to talk to anyone. kind of brilliant, but still too gutsy. even for me. i loved having them here.

a story about a pill

2011-06-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

there is a birth control pill called yaz. you've heard of it-moving on. i took yaz for almost two years. the first year was fine. i had some side effects that weren't too bad and others that were pretty bad, but i didn't know it was because of the birth control. but THEN! dun-dun-DUN, some time during year two on that tiny little pill, i started experiencing some serious craziness. like literally. i was crazy. i became depressed...so depressed. and had anxiety over things that aren't anxiety worthy. it just kept getting worse too, and for a period of time, i think it's safe to say i cried every single night because i was so sad and i didn't know why. i hated religion. i hated work. i deleted so many people on facebook-randomly-because i was crazy. i watched movie trailers for ridiculous chick flicks on youtube like 50 times in a row and bawled my eyes out every time. i was flat out losing it. i did, thankfully, still love john, my family, and books. my sister and mom suggested that it might be my birth control. i hadn't considered that since i had been on it for over a year without experiencing what i was experiencing until that time. but still they kept encouraging me to look into it. so i did. i found myself reading article after article describing exactly what i was going through. a lot of people even had a similar experience of being on yaz for about a year before crazy came to town. that internet...it's a real gem.

it took me about 3 seconds to decide to get off of the crap. within about three weeks, i wasn't feeling anxiety anymore. for the first time in months, i had hope...hope in things in general, and i was feeling back to normal and happy again. the only down side is, my hair started coming out in too-big-for-comfort-clumps, but hey i'd take thinning hair over sadness any day. i haven't taken it for over a year now and dude i'm so glad.

well how's that for a nice friday post? my sister audge and seth are coming to visit for the weekend and i'm positive it will be a dream. have a great weekend.

june 1=warm weather from now on? please?

2011-06-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

john works 45 min to an hour (depending on the tourists) away from our house here in jackson. he works in grand teton national park and sometimes, if his schedule is ugly, days go by when i don't see that guy. so i've gone to visit a time or two and i don't mind it one bit. besides, it's my old stomping grounds and it's really ridiculously pretty. on the way home one time, i decided i would stop at every lookout point and take pictures and look at those mountains. and it was very nice indeed. and the thing that's so nice about tourists is that they do all the work of finding wildlife for you. they create traffic jams by coming to complete stops on the highway and point in the direction of : fill in the blank. i've moved past stopping to see bison and elk a long time ago, but for some reason, moose-or should i say meese- is still exciting to me. they're just so gnarly looking and kind of mean so there's element of danger which is nice. no bear sightings for me yet this season. but johnny boy saw a mama black bear and her two cubs a couple days ago. come visit us and we'll go look for bears.

walking the dogs..i mean goats.

2011-05-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

a couple of my friends work for a lady who owns goats. occasionally, they take the goats on a walk. occasionally happened yesterday and i knew i'd be an idiot to miss this. meet suga and ding-dong. they weren't playing games...they wanted ritz crackers and they wanted them bad. one of those pictures shows my fingers dangerously close to the mouth of one of those bad boys as it's going in for the delicious snack. they lowered their heads and gave you a look if you even dared getting near climbing on their playground rock. it was un.be.lievable.

afterwards, you might like to know that we went to my friend's house and made rhubarb crisp with HARRISON FORD'S rhubarb. yea that's right, my two friends (the goat walkers) are harrison's gardeners. did you know that he lives here in jackson? well, at least part of the year. i wouldn't mind having a summer home here either if i was a bazillionaire. hey thanks, harry. the crisp was de-lish! next time we'll have it at your place?

behind the scenes

2011-05-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

urban media did a behind-the-scenes video for us. i like it a lot and i especially like john's dance moves that are shown in it.

craigslist ad

2011-05-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

i'm not kidding, john and i stumbled upon this craigslist ad when we were living in virginia. i'm so glad i saved it for all this time, as i have read it several times now and laughed really hard.

will you draw this for me? (anywhere)

Hay i want someone to draw me a picture of Robert E Lee on AT-ST walker legs on a small island fighting ewocks and the US national guard a little after sunrise. Mr. Lee would be Duel weilding Revolers that fire lazer beems and the ewocks would have stones and spears while the troops there standerd issue M4 carbines. Robert E Lee will be destroying all the enemys agents him and should have a light saber on his hip while he mops up his foe's on the beach. This willl not be paid for but its a great idea and would like to see someone with a bit of talent bring this wonderful idea to life. Feel free to contact me about this.

video time

2011-05-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

our music video has released! hope you enjoy it! http://youtu.be/EBwWDWIjm9U

2011-05-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

alright so i might have jumped the gun a little tiny bit on this music video bizness. it will either be uploaded on youtube late tonight or sometime tomorrow. but either way, i'll be putting up the link on this here blog and on facebook and through emails and every other which way. i plan on being real annoying about it-making sure that every person i've ever met watches it, plus some.

the other day the library had a book sale. we love those! if you can really get in there and hold your own amongst the crowds, you can come flying out of there with some serious steals. i found mockingjay, the help, fingerprints of God, which i just finished and in some ways it changed my life-for reals it's a whole other topic, the hot zone-i'll be reading that next, and lots of others. all hardbacks for a buck each. and john was in science fiction heaven...murdering that section of books. almost a year ago, i asked for book recommendations from you all and got an excellent list in the comments! thanks guys, i've read a lot of those books now and i still refer back to it when i need a new one.

hey should i tell you a little bit about fingerprints of God? it's all about science and spirituality. it has all the good stuff in there, like scientific experiments about the existence of God, the power of love, meditation, spiritual experiences, near death experiences, etc. all different walks of life and faiths in that book and their different but similar experiences with a higher power. it had me crying like it was no body's business because seriously, it was speaking pure truth. glad my mom recommended it to me.

what are you reading?

excited

2011-05-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

i am beyond excited that our music video is done being edited! it was filmed about a month ago, starring john and yours truly. it's the music video from our song "good at being bad" you can find that bad boy on itunes). the video will be up on youtube tomorrow! (monday). i have been watching it a lot and i hope you will watch it too and share it with your friends, kiddies, parents, etc if you feel so inclined. you might get a good laugh from it.

answer me this

2011-05-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

true. and true. believe it. did you ever know a girl to be so shameless?

TRUE OR FALSE

2011-05-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

two stories. one might be true, the other false. maybe they're both true, or both false.

#1. the summer that i was working up in grand teton national park, i decided i wanted to make some extra money besides my pathetic paychecks from my cashier/hostess job. i decided i could cut hair on the side and make some money. the closest hair salon was 45 min. away, this was genius. (this was before i had a clue how to cut hair...no training, no schooling, just flat out over- confidence).
i started spreading the word that i cut hair to employees at the lodge. 10 bucks for a male cut, 15 for a girl. meet me in my dorm room. bam! i had business! if anyone ever asked if i was a real hairstylist, i would tell them no. i owed them at least the truth right? i'd usually follow it up with some really fancy confidence words and tell them that i had just learned on my own.
one time a girl asked me if i would give her the rhianna cut. at the time, that was a high stacked bob. "ppssshh-yeah totally"! so i did...er, i did what i could. gulp. at the time i thought it was a job incredibily well done for someone who didn't have a clue how to do it. she seemed pleased enough. now i just cringe.
another time a guy asked me to do a steep military fade. a steep military whaddy-what? i drew the line there, telling him i had no idea what that was and didn't know how to do it. he said he had watched his barber do it so many times that he would kind of guide me through it. oh heaven help me guys it was bad. bald spots everywhere and all sorts of steps. so he was upset and told everyone that i gave him a botch job. the nerve!
but for some strange reason, business didn't slow down..it was mostly guys though, desperate for a hair cut not giving a crap what it looked like. and that summer i made some serious cash.

#2. the summer that i graduated hair school, i was looking for a job just for the three months until we moved to virginia. i wanted it to be a fun job, where i could be outside for it. so i saw that the parks and recreation department was looking for a tennis insctructor. perfect! did i know how to play tennis? no. but a girl can learn anything from google. plus i had already been working for the parks and recreation department as a scorekeeper for basketball games, and the season before as a soccer instructor and referree. so i told my boss i would love that tennis job. after doing a fancy dance around the question "do you have tennis experience?" i was on my way! he said i had to go to a training though up in salt lake. well this pro-like player and coach flew in from north carolina to teach the training camp and all the other employees from all over the valley were real tennis players. so for a full day i had to b.s. my way through tennis. ever tried that? it's impossible. everyone there knew i was a flat out fraud. what did i care? i wasn't going to be working with any of these chumps. or so i thought.
i did my homework the week before work started. reading all about tennis techniques and the parts of the court and the scoring, online and in handbooks.
the first couple days i had little baby kids who sucked worse than i did. day three was teenagers, yikes, but still beginners. day four, a bunch of mini vans and SUVs rolled up but instead of kiddies getting out, adults. in visors, with tennis raquets. i had an adult class! well by then i had a partner tennis instructor with me from that salt lake training and so the pressure was off a little. but since he knew i was a fake, he would constantly make me demonstrate what we just taught them. always with a little sly smirk on his face- that devil. and when they would play doubles at the end of the hour, he'd tell me to get in there and show em how it's done. the adults would say "yeah! laura come play a game with us!"
i'd say come one guys i don't play on the clock and all sorts of crazy jazz. that summer was a total success though. i had a fun, outdoor job, and the kids+teenagers+adult classes loved me. i cracked jokes at them and gave them candy and "pretended" to not be able to touch my toes when stretching..the kids thought it was hilarious. ahem.

summer hair

2011-05-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

long hair in the summer time makes sense to me. although most people request a hair cut of great length and proportions once the heat comes-and i understand that too, long hair is hot-i usually try and have long hair come summer time. so basically this summer i'll just have to deal with it. let's just say my timing was a bit off. as in i kept cutting it every 5 weeks and pretty soon it was april! i like long hair in the summers because you can put it up in a bun on top of your head and it's like it's practically gone! plus, when you get out the pool, you can just put them hairs in a nice pretty braid and then you have wavy hair for later. kind of stinky and chlorine-y, but still. it's wavy. and the opposite is true...like shorter hair in the winters when i'm more likely to style it and it looks cute with winter clothes.

but hey this is how i feel about my hair for the seasons, not anyone elses.

these photos are from my first photo shoot done for my hair portfolio.

date: 2009

subject: classic beauty

model: audge mitchell, my pretty sister

photographer: carolee beckham. check out her blog.

never say never

2011-05-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

i kind of feel like if you still don't like the biebs than maybe you haven't see Never Say Never yet.

i know what you're thinking. "laura, you sure don't know how to win friends and influence people". well hey i'm just being honest. i wasn't willing to go as far as hit up the movie theater and pay 10 bones to see biebs. mostly because i knew i'd be alone.

"one ticket for never say never...please".

but i knew came redbox time, i would have no shame. and 0 shame i had on friday when it came out. i said to john, " dude john never say never, the justin bieber movie, came out in redbox today". and he knew he couldn't say anything but "you should get it" because i, for the most part, keep my mouth shut about the movies he gets from the redbox.

ten minutes before leaving to get the movie, my roommate asked where i was going and i told her. she razzed me for a good while about it.

"do you have to get that one? of all the movies to rent, justin bieber? there are sooo many good movies you haven't seen yet, but you want to see that one".

yes. yes i do.

well guess who sat through the whole thing-just as i thought- yep. said roommate. geesh i feel like i deserve an apology, even if she did think it was pretty lame.

but anyway, biebs. see it! ok i understand if you don't. but it's pretty kewl.

free

2011-05-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

john and i went to a health fair on saturday to get free medical screenings. ok i really went for some free loot such as fake tats, candy, toothbrushes, and the like. one of the booths was a dermatology office though, and were offering free see if anything looks suspicious like skin cancer screenings. and since i know i'm at a higher risk for skin cancer given my freckles, fair skin and reddish hair i decided to sign up. john signed up to and when the doctor walked out he picked up the sheet of paper with john's name and told him he could come on back. then he asked if i was his wife, and i said "yeah" and he said you can just come back to. it was back in this little square of curtains and well it was pretty strange because johnny boy was the patient at hand yet this man was talking to me the whole time. he was a youngish man, pretty handsome too but was given off a pretty heavy perv vibe. i knew john was feeling the same way given his suspicious eyes toward the doctor. he would say "so what would you like me to check for you john?" looking at me. then he told john to just go ahead and take off his shirt and he'd take a look. so he pointed his little flashlight at a couple moles all the time talking to me and i don't feel like john's shirtless self got the proper attention and check up. so when we were walking out, the doctor gave me a bunch of little samples (yes!). so i was next on the sign up but he hadn't known that until we were about to walk away and he said "oh! i didn't know you had signed up to. do you want to come back?" "no it's cool" i said, "i feel like all my questions are answered". dude i'm not going back there to take off my shirt for your so-called screening. so we bailed and talked about how that doctor totally wanted me. this morning i got a call from his office here in town saying the doctor wrote a note saying that i should come in for a full baseline check up and they were asking me if i would like to make an appointment. full body baby. no joke.

i've still got it. ok probably every female had a similar experience with the guy but come one. full baseline check up? yowza! so my appointment is this friday. j/k!

sun therapy

2011-05-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

well no joke i have a serious case of SAD. seasonal affective disorder. i have always been happier in the summer time. winter blues constantly getting me down. i love the light too- always love to have the blinds and curtains open. one of the best feelings for me is laying in the sun. getting me some serious therapy.

we are in jackson now, and i'm waiting for those rays to show themselves already. oh here's an idea summer, get here! winter is gone and that's good but spring showers are making themselves known.

i found some old cell phone pictures on john's phone of me when i lived here in jackson back in 2007. they reminded me of the hiking, canoeing and swimming that went on that summer. that's what i'm looking forward to.

but for now it's a waiting game.

what's your favorite season?

field day

2011-05-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

we had a field day with the group of street kids. these kids live on the streets for the most part. they don't even live at an orphanage-they're homeless. this particular group, has been "taken in" by a man named jimmy. an organization helps him pay for rent at a house, but the house is way too small to accommodate everyone and funds are sparse. so he does what he can and the kids stick together and some come and go. the field day was so much fun and hilarious. the kids were so excited! we made an obstacle course where two went at a time and the last thing they had to do was put on a cape we made out of sheets and wear a huge foam finger and run back to the finish line. some of them came running to the finish line with their arms up in the air (one hand with a foam finger hand) and their capes flying in the wind, acting like they just won an olympic race.

we also did a balloon stomp, human pyramid, water balloon toss, a big soccer game, and wheelbarrow races. for the wheelbarrow races, we had four lines total. two lines facing the other two. the idea was to wheelbarrow your partner over to the other line facing you and once you got there, the first two in that line went. whatever group of two lines finished first by having all their players go, won the race. we thought they understood.

oops a little shorts malfunction. oh well a little crack never hurt anyone

but then hmmm, what happened to the lines? and why are five people going at once?

ending with this: basically everyone going at the same time to nowhere in particular. we all just stood on the side and laughed. they were having fun and that's what mattered.

hey you try looking cute in haiti. i dare you. the heat and humidity, dirt, kid boogers, sweat mixed with sunscreen, mosquitoes, and kid pee will rip you to shreds. but dude i'm not complaining i'm just stating it as is.

so then we stocked them up with licorice and suckers and sent them on their way. i miss them. pretty bad and don't be surprised if john and i add a haitian kid(s) to our family one day. f'realz.

i can't wait to go back. have i said that before?

Blankie from MY perspective

2011-05-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

I didn't know until after I married Laura that I also accidentally married a blankie! Lil' Blankie was shy at first but after a WHOLE YEAR of marriage Laura let me actually hold blankie; the trust I earned in all other areas didn't quiet carry over into the blankie relationship. Blankie serves many roles but the funniest is when Laura is "done" with a conversation we're having she'll put the blankie over her head and peek at me through one of the many holes. I've grown to love little Blankie but mostly because it's just another really funny unique thing that makes Laura unmatchable. What funny and appropriate thing did you learn about your spouse/b or g friend/ roommate that you didn't know for a long time? (you might want their permission to post)

-john

a story about a blankie

2011-05-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

i'm ~~25%~~ 5 percent sorry about posting a bunch of old photographs of me lately. it's just that i had never scanned before (really) and decided to start and it ended up getting a little cray-cray. so here it is, a story about a blankie.

once upon a time, i was born. and when i was born, my granny-that's too n's, not m's- too often people refer to my "grammy" so i'm setting the record straight officially. back to the story: my granny crocheted a blankie for me. i became very fond of this here blankie, i.e. carried it around with me during the day, slept with it, and developed a habit with it. most kids suck their thumbs for security/comfort/habit. i kissed my blankie. just pecks, don't get too worked up, but still. i think i mostly just kissed it at night before i laid my head on top of it to go to sleep.

then one day i was at my granny's house and when it was time to leave and travel back home, i forgot my blankie! what kind of friend am i? and since there were so many other families visiting granny at the time too, one of the families took it back to their own home by accident. well i didn't know that, and either did they, and it was gone forever, er, two years. i was very distraught and i cried a lot when i came to terms that that thing was gone. then my aunt found it in a box and wondered "where did this nasty little thing come from?" and asked my mom if it could possibly be my blankie. Christmas was right around the corner, so my aunt wrapped it up and sent it to me for a present. i still remember opening that gift and seeing my blankie after two years. i was back in business! me + blankie =bf4life.

yes, i said 4 life, which means i still have it/kiss it/ sleep with my head on top of it.

in november though, i accidentally left it at my sister's house while they were in the middle of a move! and after a couple months i had a couple nights of depression thinking that this could be the end of us. not because i thought my sister would let it get lost, but what if someone who was helping them pack saw it and thought "surely this is trash" and put it in the toss pile. it was a strong possibility based off what it looks like and i had to come to terms. i hate terms. but i already gave you a spoiler before this last little scare, so you know that my mom came back from my sister's house about a month ago and brought back my blankie that she found in a box while helping unpack! boom! a void instantly filled! i'm a very simple creature.

maybe you can't tell that is my blankie on top of my legs in this last picture, but i'm here to tell you it is.

so there you have it, and everything you previously thought about me might now be turned upside down and 20 of you are wondering if you should still follow my blog. (the other four are family members and this is old news to them). well for those of you who are finding it hard to relate to a 25 year old who still sleeps with and kisses a blankie that smells like the 80's, my justification is this: most people have pets, i have a blankie instead. it plays the same role except it's a lot less expensive. so there.

a side note: the level of scrounge going on in the last picture is through the roof. everything from the chocolate smears on my shirt to my rat tail sticking out the side to the fact that i'm passed out on the floor. ok fine it's not a rat tail, it's a pony tail...i hope. anyways john has this picture on his phone like a proud parent has honor student stickers on their car.

THE END.

meet my four year old self.

2011-04-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

if you wanted to win my four year old heart, you would probably give me a snickers bar and dress me in purple from head to toe. you'd also let me hang out with boys all day and pose for pictures while sitting in trees. yeah that's right, the beauty above is me. look at that face! it's kind of impossible for me to look at this picture without laughing my guts out.

my cousin's acid wash jean jacket and pink hat doesn't hurt the perfection of this picture either.

bunnies!

2011-04-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

Today is Easter, but don't be fooled into thinking these are easter bunnies; they're year round bunnies who are filling the measure of their creation long after you've eaten your last jelly belly and fallen asleep with a half eaten candy bar in your hand.

a story about a bowl cut

2011-04-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

once upon a time, my mom gave me a mean bowl cut.

the end.

you guessed it.

2011-04-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

my mom and i met up in new york a couple weeks ago. you already know that. i'm like the person that's telling you about the dream they had last night in detail. they just keep talking and talking about it and you lost them at "last night i had the weirdest dream".

well but new york got me thinking. why do i love it there so much? after all, i love other places so much too that are so opposite. like hippie-living, rock-climbing, white water-rafting, big bbq sandwich-eating type places. like jackson hole, wy. (which by the way, did you know john and i are moving there in a couple of weeks)? well you know now. and if you recall, we also lived/worked there in the summer of 2007 while dating. and we're really excited to go back! but anyway, it's opposite of nyc.

well the reason i love jackson hole is this: it's beautiful. and my favorite season is summer, and i associate jackson hole with the summer because that's when i lived there. i love canoeing and playing in rivers and art festivals and outdoor concerts. and i love those tetons. stick me in jackson hole for 1 week in the winter and ask me if i still love it.*

but new york.(wait! don't leave, this is the best part of my weird dream!). i realized i love it because of the people. i love that there are people everywhere and i love that most of them are interesting to look at. i am a people person, folks. my mom has told me several times, that when i was little i was high maintenance in one way. i always had to have human interaction. i wasn't one to just sit alone and color or play with dolls and entertain myself. even tv was boring for me!. i wanted to be with people, ineracting with them. or else "mom-i'm bored". and then in high school, if i hadn't gone out with friends for one night on the weekend, i thought my world was going to end. truly...kind of annoying. so there you have it, new york will never run out of people, and i find some serious comfort in that.

*the answer would be no.

nope

2011-04-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

it's false. not only is it false, but there are no elements of truth to it. the scenario just popped into my little brain and i wrote it down. well maybe there is one element of truth. that being that i had a two week boyfriend. i had a couple of those......

T/F

2011-04-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

   when i was in college, i dated a guy for about 2 weeks. we'll call him chris. on about the 14th and last day of dating, chris casually asked me how many kids i wanted. i said "um, i don't know". he asked me what i meant by that, had i never thought about it before? so i explained to him that i don't think i would ever be sure until i started having babies, or just a baby. he was really blown away. i said how many do you want? he said 4. i said that's cool. but then he wanted to talk about the fact that i didn't know how many i wanted again. he preached to me for a long time. he asked me if i thought it was important to have children and really annoying boss-to-employee/dad-to-daughter/priest-to-congregation member type questions. he was grilling me and was getting upset. so after a couple hours i told him i didn't think it was going to work out....he was baffled.
   during that time i had met a guy in one of my classes. we'll call him dave. dave and i were just friends. we talked in class and that's about it. after my episode with chris, i told dave about it. we laughed about how weird it was. it kind of became a little inside joke between us. dave would constantly ask me if i had thought about babies that day and stuff like that to be funny. i got to know dave pretty well. i knew all about his family, his major, his hometown, and his best friend chris. yeah.
   towards the end of the semester, dave asked me on a date. we had dinner at his apartment and i saw a picture of him and his roommate/best friend chris. it was THE chris! how many kids do you want chris! oh boy what to do? obviously chris hadn't told dave the details about why him and his 2 week girlfriend had broken up, so i stayed quiet. after we had dinner, we watched a movie and in the middle of it, chris walked in! yikes. so dave introduced us and we told him we knew each other and made a little catch-up small talk and then he went into his room.
   not only did dave never ask me out again, but he hardly talked to me in class. he became so distant. chris obviously told dave some twisted rendition of what went down between us and ultimately, it was bros before hoes.

sesame street

2011-04-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

in haiti, we visited a home for special needs children. when we got there, i immediately felt at ease. the kids were so happy and innocent and there were no barriers between us. they all hugged and wanted to hold hands and sat on our laps. we brought a projector and showed them a sesame street elmo episode on the wall in their home. can you imagine? watching tv blew their minds! they loved it. one little boy literally smiled, laughed and clapped the entire time. it was fun to look around and watch all of their reactions. the cute little girl pictured below fell asleep on my foot. maybe she wasn't all that into sesame street after all. :)

Pony Perfume

2011-04-11T20:19:00.001-07:00

I wear women’s deodorant because it smells good. I don't want to smell "all sport" when, for the same price, I could have "sparkling vanilla bean" wafting through my olfactory. I live a strict code of only applying to my body the scent that I would most enjoy smelling all day long, no matter what gender it’s originally marketed for. Unfortunately, there are a lot of smells that people don’t have the option of donning because no fragrance artist has yet to understand human desire to the millionth level.

Take, for example, the smell of freshly baked, home-made bread. Slap that scent on an attractive person and it's not hard to envision a horde of hungry people forget their manners and sniff that person's immediate area until the very last particle was sniffed up in the very last sniff. Why not cover your bawdy body with a splash of country fried steak (overtone) with a side of potatoes and gravy (mid-tone) and a chunk of cornbread (undertone)? I see a future that recognizes the wholly untapped market of honky farm girls and boys fresh from the farm. If you could bottle the smell of a sweating pony and sell that aphrodisiac to the honky-tonk, line-dancing, bale throwing, cow tit milking Sheila’s then you’re looking at a whole population of repeat customers.

over it.

2011-04-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

the Holy Hendricks has been good to me, but we are taking a new direction now. for one, john is now an author on the blog! which, if you know john, you know that's a really good thing. the guy is funny and creative and i'm excited for his posts. plus we really aren't all that holy and i felt like the title was setting unrealistic expectations for me. jk. kind of. instead of changing the url and starting a whole new blog, we decided to keep this one, just change the title and we'll be changing a few other things. so rest in peace holy hendricks, and welcome topsy and havoc.

new to the york.

2011-04-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

i also just got back from this city. i love new york city. john and i are both determined to not only get back there someday, but stay for good. it feels like home to us even though we only lived there a short time. this was a quick 2 1/2 day trip with my mom and aunt and my brother was able to come down for a day. don't you just love washington square? the people watching there is prime. and the financial district? all those men in business suits makes me feel like i'm on another planet. central park is always a favorite. and what about chelsea and west village. oh dude the union square markets. hey peeps: have you been to new york? favorite place/area/restaurant/thing in nyc?

Mother Teresa

2011-04-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

we were able to go to Mother Teresa's home for the sick a couple times while i was in Haiti. some of the babies are abandoned. some have mothers that come visit them and most are very sick. the nuns that work there and run the home are very kind, and the other workers are too. the fact of the matter is though, there aren't enough arms and hands to love/hold/rock/touch the babies. it's amazing how far love can go. if you hold a baby for one hour, and smile at him/her, talk and sing to him/her, maybe they will survive for one extra day. or at least that's my hope!
when we got there, we walked down some stairs into a basement room that was dark and hot. there were two rooms full of tiny cribs. the volunteers i was with started picking up crying babies and taking them outside to sit in the shade. the first crib i noticed had a sweet girl in it who was a little bag of bones. she was whimpering and looking up at me but could hardly lift her neck. i picked her up and noticed she had an IV in her arm so i stayed there holding her next to her crib. for a few minutes, it was just me and her in there except for the other babies who were sleeping or laying in their cribs. no workers or volunteers were in the room and i looked around at the conditions. so many emotions came crashing down on me and i was finding it hard to have hope for her. after a while, i put her down and picked up another baby who had started crying and we went outside.
because these babies don't get the love and attention they need, they are pretty emotionless. they haven't been smiled at, talked to, kissed and held like they have needed to and so most of them don't know how to respond. you can feel how much they love to be held though. for one thing, they stop crying the very second you reach for them. they also grip to your clothes for their life when you even hint of putting them down. it's heart breaking to leave for that reason. it's a horrible feeling to have to peel little fingers off of you and leave them in such a sad situation.

the second visit there was going to be just over an hour so i decided i was going to hold just one baby the whole time rather than taking turns with different babies. this was my last day in haiti and i was already feeling emotional about leaving. i went in and picked up a little boy. he had just been dropped off last month and was so skinny i was scared i was going to break him. i went to sit outside in the shade and every 10 minutes or so there was a cool breeze that came by. he would lift his little head barely off my chest in order to feel the breeze. there were some teenagers in a cement classroom in the courtyard where we were, and they were singing gorgeous haitian songs. they all sang their hearts out, song after song. we sat and listened to them and after about 45 minutes of being with the little boy, he started to coo! it was so soft and quiet but he cooed constantly for the last 15 minutes that i was there. he also started to reach his hand up to my face and would touch it, then get tired and put it down.
i was amazed at how much of an impact a baby cooing could make on me! i took it as his way of expressing happiness.

ps. obviously, this was not an appropriate place to take pictures. i do have tons though, of other kids in orphanages who LOVED having their picture taken, and loved taking pictures just as equally. so i can't wait to show you some of those soon.

first day

2011-04-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

i'm back from haiti and i'm experiencing what some of my family members have gone through after they have returned from haiti: the inability to describe the way you felt without doing the experience injustice. the best way i can describe the over all trip was that there were many moments when i was experiencing several intense emotions all at once. since so much happened, i'll tell my stories in different posts throughout the next couple of weeks to break things up.

i flew into haiti after almost 24 hours of traveling. (my flights had been rearranged and re-directed because of a fuel fire at the miami airport). so i was tired when i arrived but excited to finally be there. my aunt picked me up at the completely chaotic airport and we headed over to meet up with the other volunteers. we met at an outdoor museum where we took some street kids for a field trip. none of these kids had ever been to anything like this. it was a first for them and it was fun to watch them on the tour. i don't have any pictures of that first day, but these are a few from other days.

i thought this was a funny picture of my friend king back there amongst all of these kids.

any walls that anyone previously had up before coming to haiti were quickly knocked down in about fifty seconds. the whole week you are sitting on laps to make room, standing really close to people in the back of a truck while you reek worse than you have ever reeked before, holding babies that have no diapers on-hence getting peed on, sweating, sweating, sweating, getting boogers and snot wiped on your shirt from holding kids and babies, and i want to do it all again.

this little boy spent a lot of time on my lap on day two. he is a street kid. so young :(

more to come later.

until next time, haiti

2011-03-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

i'm in haiti still, but leaving saturday to go to new york. the trip has included every emotion that a person can have. i can't wait to show pictures and tell stories of my experiences here. already sad to leave in a day and looking forward to coming back.

i swear

2011-03-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

it's true. i think the one-legged man probably gave up walking the 100 miles and turned around to wait for the next bus. but who knows.
there is so much more to that story. i like to keep those true/falses somewhat short though. i think if anyone is trying to gather material for a book they are writing, spend a week on the grey hound bus.

true or falso

2011-03-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

when i graduated from hair school, i decided to treat myself to the las vegas sun for about a week. john needed the car for work, so i decided i'd take the grey hound bus. i got on the bus early in the morning and scored an empty seat. me and my vogue magazine were minding our own business when the guy next to me caught my attention. he was sleep talking, or just talking with his eyes closed, saying " oh you think you're a tough guy? a single dad, huh? well i'll *&#@ing kill you. yeah, i'll kill you right now", over and over. not to mention he was wearing a puffy down coat in 107 degree weather. about an hour into the trip, the bus driver announced the bus was over heating so we would have to stop for a while to let it cool. she pulled off at the nearest exit to a closed-down gas station right before the bus died. the bus driver was on the phone for a while to find out that if we were to wait for another bus to show up, it would be a couple hours. or she could put water in the radiator and keep the AC off and just stop every hour to let it cool. she chose the latter. did i mention 107 degree weather?
every time we stopped, she threatened to leave anyone who wasn't back on the bus in 15 minutes. at one of the stops, she started pulling away without one of the passengers....who happened to only have one leg. she stopped to let him on the bus though when we all saw him coming out of the gas station. when she opened the bus door, he told her that he didn't want to continue on and would wait for the next bus. after she told him the next bus wasn't coming until tomorrow, he said "ok then i'll walk to the junction". she told him he was crazy because the junction was 100 miles away. he decided to walk there anyway. so she called him a douche bag and drove away as he was hopping with his cane down a road in the middle of the utah desert.
what should be a 5 1/2 hour trip, ended up being 8 hours and just as we came over the hill to see las vegas, a toothless lady asked me where i was headed. i told her i'd be getting off in las vegas. i told her i was from there and my family lived there. she said, "so do you know bobby?" i said no i don't think so. she got kind of annoyed and said, "you don't know bobby?" i said nope. then she told me she couldn't understand how i was from las vegas and not know bobby. a true mystery.
we finally got to the station, i got off along with a couple others, and the rest continued on to california. heaven help them.

true or false?

hair tip: finger waves

2011-03-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

in the last couple weeks, i have been practicing finger waves on my own head. it's been....unsuccessful. finger waves are hard as it is, but they are especially hard when trying to do them on yourself. you can watch someone do them, have someone explain how to do them, and learn any other way but the only way to get good at finger waves, is practice. so i found a youtube finger wave tutorial, that i found most true and helpful. if you follow it perfectly, it may or may not look like crap the first times. you'll find that it will start to get easier the more you practice because you'll start to realize little tricks that work for your hair.

according to my experience:
-the wetter the hair, the better. keep spraying it down as it drys out.
-the girl who gives the tutorial is right about the gel: it doesn't need to be expensive, it just needs to be extra strong hold, so sticky! and load it in there. don't skimp.
-a fine tooth comb works better than a wide tooth comb.
-finger waves are easier on shorter hair than longer.
-when "pinching" the hair, like shown in the tutorial, pinch tight and firm against your head.

again, those tips are just from my experience doing them on my own hair, and others. if you can get good at doing these, it's totally worth the effort. it looks so cool and it's awesome for costume parties and dinners, halloween, or just for fun. the next day, you can brush it out, and wear your finger waves again in a different way!

haiti

2011-03-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

next week i'm going with my mom to haiti on a humanitarian trip with FFCIN. you should check out their website, just sayin. my aunt is the director of the organization, and my mom is the volunteers coordinator. i have wanted to go down there for a while now and am so grateful that i get to now.

from haiti, we will be flying to new york city for a couple days. my mom and aunt are having a board meeting there with the other board members and boom! i get to tag along.

i will be turning 25 while on the trip, and really, i think this might be my favorite birthday yet.

i spy a cute little nakey bum.

can't wait to tell you all about it.

MAC

2011-03-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

speaking of babies, i got to see this one on the way back from idaho last trip. he's my nephew and i'm obsessed with him. i watched him for a little bit on the morning we were there while my sister ran her other kids to school. he insisted on eating his oatmeal by himself. and then after he got all dirty and messy, he ran straight to the bath tub and waited for me to turn on the water. when i was telling my sister about that, she said that he refuses to be fed by her or his dad, so that he can get messy on purpose because he knows that if he's messy, he'll get a bath. and the kid loves baths.

all i know is if i don't get a thirty pound 1 1/2 year old, i'm going to feel seriously gypped. he has set the bar high for amount of lovable chub.

baby, baby, baby, oooohh!

2011-03-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

we had a baby shower for this pretty prego girl in the fur. (my sister-in-law kat-she's having a girl).my mom and i bought a really ugly baby doll and put all sorts of dress up wear-including the fur-on the table. then we might have made everyone that came dress up/dress the baby up, and take a picture in front of a pink background.

kat then headed up to utah to have another baby shower. my sister, who organized the utah one, called me and told me that she needed help coming up with some "would you rathers" for a game they were playing. she said they all had to have something to do with babies. she was in luck as i was spend 80% of every day thinking up these kinds of scenarios.

my favorites were:

would you rather deliver four babies all at once?

have one baby but his/her first word is the F word and that's the only word he/she says for a whole year?

would you rather name your baby after a famous criminal?

name your baby "Wal-Mart"?

would you rather deliver your baby in a room full of thirty teenagers?

deliver your baby in a room all by yourself with no one there?

TRUE

2011-03-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

it's true. oh heaven help me it's true.

true or false

2011-03-04T16:04:00.000-08:00

one time when john and i were dating, we went on a hot date to a restaurant that was packed.we had been looking forward to hanging out alone and getting our talk on. it was a friday night and the wait was long. when our buzzer thing finally vibrated, we started to get up to follow the hostess. a guy who had been sitting next to john made a comment to him about how we were lucky that it was our turn and that he wished he could just come sit with us so he wouldn't have to wait any longer. i heard john joke something back to him like, "yeah sure come on over". i had my eye on the prize at that point so i was ahead of john, and closely following the hostess. when i sat down i realized that john's remark was no joke to that man. or his woman. those two sat their booty's down right at our table. what was happening. they told us that it was their FIRST date, and they barely knew each other. they were both in their forties. she had four kids, he was a play ground equipment salesman. she was obsessed with disney. his way of trying to flirt was by saying "oh ok" in a making fun of tone after everything she said. the awkwardness between them and their getting to know each other was punching me in the face. i was on the worst first date of my life and it wasn't even my date. and i can only fake laugh for so long. after an hour we said peace and never saw those two again. wonder if they ever had a second.

true or false?

black and yellow

2011-03-02T00:59:00.000-08:00

just got back from a quick trip to idaho. the ten hour drive is out of control long, but i've done it so many times it's starting to feel like it ain't no thang. on the way up, i drove the whole way. there's a couple of reasons why, including: driver gets radio control, and driver has speed control. i am not scary fast, but more like let's do this thing in good time in a safe kind of way-fast. about 6 hours in, john decided we should play a game. john scans the radio for a station. if he can sing the lyrics of the song on the randomly chosen station within a couple of seconds, he gets a point. knowing who sings the song earns another point. then it's my turn-different radio station. first one to ten wins. you're on, johnny boy.

i started out strong, getting lucky with some hip-hop/pop stations. john managed to stay close on my tail, but ultimately, the first round went to me. second round john reverted back to the 90's and was eating me alive with bands like incubus and yellowcard. luck wasn't on my side for that second round as i got 3 country stations...game over. winner-john.

third round and the score was tight. 8-8, and i'm looking for a miracle. scan---commercial. scan again----spanish station. doesn't count. scan-----sweating-----. "you know what it is, ererthing i do, i do it big! black and yellow black and yellow!" YES. thank you wiz khalifa.

on the way back down, we stopped at a high school, so that john could perform and be a guest speaker for a couple of english classes. the students have been learning about satire, so, duh. john had done that before and both times were fun/another reminder of how grateful i am that those high school days are over.

julie asked me to show how to do fingerwaves for one of my next hair tips posts. i'm looking forward to trying to teach that. so coming soon.

boom boom pow

2011-02-25T11:11:00.000-08:00

did you know that our kickstarter was a success? thank you to everyone who did any, some, or all of these things:

-donated

-thought it was funny

-passed on the link

-sent positive thoughts our way

-told someone rich about our project

-memorized and later quoted 1 or more of john's lines from the video.

right about now our life is looking like this: john has been working a lot of hours on painting-because there are a lot of rewards to send out. gang membership certificates are being made. songs are going to be sent. a music video is going to be made! and there are more songs to be produced. thanks again!

tipping tip

2011-02-21T19:43:00.000-08:00

those days in hair school were loooong.

what is there to talk about when it comes to tipping. you'd be surprised- i always get asked about tipping-what is a normal amount, is it taboo to not tip at all, and more issues.

so how much are you supposed to tip your hair stylist? and what if there are a couple different people that work on you. like one for washing, one for cutting or coloring, one for drying/styling. by the end you're wondering "who in sam hill do i tip"? and please don't tell me i have to tip all of them. sometimes a hair stylist will have their own assistants to do that stuff for them (washing, drying, etc.) and in that case, the hair stylist will usually tip their assistants at the end of the day. or the salon might just hire general assistants who are there to assist everyone. wash, clean up, blow dry, and do other things wherever they are needed. if they do an exceptional job, and/or are really busy, certain cool stylists will usually tip them at the end of the day too. so in most cases, just tip your stylist and let them worry about splitting it up to other people.

if you get a massage sent from heaven though, tipping the "wash girl" is always a bonus for him/her! i will specifically tip whoever washes my hair if they do an amazing massage job- just a couple of bones goes a long way.

as far as how much, it depends on a lot of factors.

-if you get an 8 dollar hair cut, probably shouldn't follow the 15% rule too religiously. don't be a stiff and round up.

-if you get a crappy service then treat it like you would treat having a crappy waiter-waitress experience. maybe you tip something tiny...maybe you don't tip at all. it's up to you to be the judge of how bad it all went down.

-15-20% is usually a good rule to go by.

after all this, i must say that i have always been and always will be excited about tips-no matter the amount. i don't have certain expectations and i definitely don't do the math.(i think that's probably the case with most hair stylists), so don't sweat it too much. a tip is a tip in my mind and it's so nice of people to fork out a little extra for a tip-especially because getting your hair did can be expensive!

done.