Hello, Winter

Oh, winter. You have poked your head in through the door, and I'm happy about it. You are an old friend; the kind that even though we have long absences, we're always right back where we left off when we are reunited. I'm sorry I had a little fling with the summer time; it's always so tempting. But I didn't forget about you. And I'm glad you're coming back. I'm sorry to tell you this, but a lot of people don't like you. I can see why; you're a little rough around the edges, and you can be a pain and really slow things down. But I can look past that, because you are really a lot of fun. You're worth all the bad stuff when you tickle my nose and dust everything with a soft shiny glow. You're so sparkly and magical and with you comes a lot of wonderful festivities and traditions. Just smelling the air and knowing you're on your way makes me want to be with family and eat more food. I really do love you, winter. Come on in.

Adios, Hair School!

Thursday was my graduation ceremony from cosmetology school. FINALLY!! I have been in school since September 9, 2008. It has been a very long road, and I've made a lot of sacrifices to finally finish. My family and friends have also sacrificed to help me out during school-special thanks to all those who came in for haircuts and nail paints, etc. You know who you are. To finish school, you must complete 2,000 hours at school, and a certain ammount of credits. For example: 400 haircuts, 300 chemical services (colors, lighteners, perms, etc), you get the picture. Then you have to pass a written exam and a practical exam, both administered by the state. I have passed both and as of 5:oo pm on Tuesday, I will be a licensed professional. Wahoo!

My mom and sister surprised me and showed up for my ceremony Thursday since I had to speak. It was such a fun weekend to have them here!! I did their eyebrows and hair, we all went to dinner, stayed up late chatting and eating junk food, etc. All the makings of a delightful weekend. Thanks so much for coming up mom and Kelly!

This is for you, Caitlin

I found this old video on my computer tonight. This was what my sister in law, Caitlin, and I used to do all the time. We were seniors in high school in this video. For some reason, we thought it was the most fun EVER to jump in the pool in our clothes. We loved it. Love you Caitlin! Can't wait to see you soon.

Reality Check

Funny how we think life is so hard. I have been feeling like I am just "fighting the good fight" with going to school and working. Poor me, with my opportunity for education, a decent job and a safe home with food to eat. My life is just so hard. I felt so ashamed for those thoughts and feelings as I read this article in Marie Claire magazine today. The story is about a young cambodian girl who was sold into sex slavery when she was just seven years old. By her own mother. The details of the story twisted my heart as I got lost in the words of her account of things she has gone through. Even now, the tears still come when I think of these poor girls. It is beyond my comprehension to think of all the amazing comforts I enjoy every single day, without a thought. And while I am sleeping soundly in my bed, these poor innocent girls are enduring what I could never even dream of. As I read about this young woman's amazing life story, her struggle for survival, and her hope for some semblance of normalcy, I kept thinking, something has to be done. As it turns out, something is being done! Somaly Mam, a former sex slave who was sold to verious brothel's (prostitue factories) for 10+ years, escaped and has developed an entire organization dedicated to helping these beautiful young women. There are many ways to donate and help. You can visit the website by clicking here. At the very least, please take a few minutes to read her story. You won't be able to forget her either.

A Self Esteem Booster

For those of you who fall down on regular occasion (I personally fall UP stairs quite often), take a look at this video. Feel better?

Something Different

The title of this post was supposed to be "something different" (with a squinty eyed mysterious look from Gideon). But the truth is, in a lot of ways, we aren't that different. We do a lot of the things newly married couples do. . .we clip coupons. We eat random dinners in front of the TV on the floor: baked potatoes/corn/baby dill pickles/candy corn. YUM. My stomach is currently aching from the overdose of pickles. But man those were WELL worth the money on our last wedding gift card. We work all day and see each other at night and get so excited when we have time to HANG OUT without falling asleep in 20 minutes. We make big plans for our future, and we still tell ourselves ALL of them will come true. We'll see. But most importantly, we laugh our guts out every day, pray together, argue about bookshelves and edit each other's blog posts (currently going on. My last sentence just got vetoed). We're doing GREAT and we are super happy. A couple of things that get us through school and work and a newlywed budget are...

1. Sunday night DESIGN STAR
2. Saturday night temple trips
3. Wendy's frostys
4. The dollar theater
5. Redbox
6. Gideon's bike
7. Diet Coke
8. Craig's list
9. Our wonderful family
10.Unlimited Texting
11. Scripture Study and Praying together
12. Foot Massages
13. HGTV
14. Washing our socks together. . .

Busy Busy Busy

Well, nothing too exciting to tell about these days. We are both so busy. And I do mean busy. Want an example?

Monday: Gideon takes me to work by 4:45 a.m. Then he goes to school from 8-10 a.m. Then he goes to work from about 4-9 p.m. then he picks me up from work, where I've been for the last 16 hours.
Tuesday: Gideon drops me off at school by 8 a.m. then rushes to his 8:15 class. He goes to work till about nine and picks me up from school, where I've been for the past 13 hours.

This is about how the rest of our week goes until Saturday, which day I get off from school early at about five. Last night we made it to a 7:20 temple session (we were fighting the occasional nod off), made it home by around ten, and by about 11 we were both asleep on the living room floor, next to a bottle of Excedrin which has been my best friend this week (I think my body is rebelling against my lack of sleep by trying to make my brain explode. Literally). This entire week, I haven't fallen asleep in the same place twice. It's usually on the couch or the floor while Gideon is doing math homework. I don't even remember it because lately sleep just creeps up behind me and hits me over the head. I keep waking up in our bed and every morning I have to ask Gideon "where did I fall asleep last night?" He usually has some strange behavioral stories to tell me about too. Apparently I'm kind of a wierd one when I'm half asleep. Although one night, he crawled onto the floor by me to tell me that he had so much homework, I was going to have to go to bed by myself. We woke up in that exact spot at about 2 a.m. But that is how things have been lately. But in between it all, we eat together, we laugh a lot, we manage to have fun, and we really are happy. Picture of the week:
One night this week we decided to have breakfast for dinner. I always LOVED when my parents would decide to do this. It blew my mind to think that we could eat breakfast food AT NIGHT. SO COOL mom and dad. So we made waffles. I convinced Gideon that I was perfectly capable of making them all by myself (he's a better cook than I am these days... I already burned a huge blister onto my wrist trying to make toast in a frying pan because we don't have a toaster). The waffles were great but as you can tell, I'm not the best at estimating how much batter should be poured into the maker.