Whoa!

I passed my Practical part of the State Board exam. This is great! I was totally scared and blah blah blah about it. But once I got in there, it was SO easy. I always get myself more wound up about things than I should be. But, this also means I have to start thinking about my life. um....ugh. I have 400 hours left at school. That is NUTS. School has flown by, but I think that is wonderfulllllll!

So as for this weekend, Emily and I got a hotel up in Ogden. That's where the test was, and it was a 8:30am so it only made sense to go up the night before. Definitely sketchy though. We pull up to our hotel, and there are only like 4 cars in the parking lot...and then we notice it's right across the street from a truck rest stop. Creeeeepy. We made ourselves some dinner and watched some Law & Order, and then studied for our test. We constantly kept second guessing ourselves, and thinking we were going to forget things, but, of course we didn't. The morning of the test came, and we got ourselves a nice free continental breakfast from the hotel. That means yummy belgian waffles, bagels, and juice! I was stuffed. Then we got to the test, and the place wasn't even open. But then when we got into the waiting room, Emily was asking the other girls what school they were from and things like that. Two of them were from a school in Provo which shall not be named. They were grumps, and didn't want to talk to any of us. There is a reason other hair schools have bad reputations with the girls. And these two were a prime example. The test was great, except one of the ladies reminded of this precious gem:

Yes, we all know and love her from Monster's Inc, but really. I could not get the image of her out of my mind. Maybe that's what helped me get through the test. Then after you are done, you wait like 10 more minutes and as you walk out the door, they hand you your results. You get two papers and literally all it says on them is Cosmetology: Pass and Barber: Pass. Those are the only two words I needed to see though! I screamed and jumped around a little bit. Pretty much the best news. And I am SO glad to be done with it! Now I will have to take my written portion sometime soon, and then finish up my hours and I will be done! Hallelujah!

This holiday should be everyday

No, I don't mean make the extravagant turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pies meal every day. I mean having a grateful attitude. Isn't it just the best when you sit around the table and say what you're grateful for? It seems like for one day, everything is right in the world. There's a moment of peace when we all really reflect on what we are grateful for. That no matter what our circumstances, we have lots of things to be grateful for. We are all blessed in one way or another. Isn't that awesome? But really, I feel like we should be this grateful EVERY day. I think we're all a little guilty of it. I know I could definitely do better. I guess I should clarify that I'm not meaning when people put it on the interenet for their friends to see, but just in general, in our own personal lives. Whether that's through prayer, or writing it in a journal. All of these are great. But, since I haven't been very good about it, I thought I would lay it out there. I have lots to be grateful for. So I better get started.

First and foremost, I am most grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, and my Heavenly Father. Without them, I would be nothing. Literally. They have given me all of these things that I am blessed with in my life. Because of them, I have a purpose in my life. I know my potential and what my final goal is. What is better than that?

Secondly, is my family. My two wonderful parents, and my three amazing brothers. I am the LUCKIEST girl to be a part of this family. I can't even explain in words how much they mean to me. I am also so grateful for the beautiful women they have married who always help them be the best they can.

Third, my friends. The ones that just laugh at me when I make a fool of myself(which is more often than not) and still want to be seen with me in public. The ones that let me spill my guts to them and tell them my worries, and fears, and will comfort me no matter what. The ones that I just love being around and we could literally be doing anything and we would find a way to make it fun. I appreciate you being a part of my life.

Lastly, I am grateful for my education. I love that I have found what I love to do. It makes it so easy to wake up every morning. I love that there is always room for me to improve and learn new things. This has been a huge reason why I am much happier in my life, and I love that.

I am so grateful to be alive. And to be able to share this life with so many wonderful people and experiences. I mean really, what could be better?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh dear.

Over these past couple of days, I've had the same thought over and over. It's something that I've constantly thought about, but more and more recently its become more prominent.

Social networking, the internet, and technology are taking over our lives.

I've honestly tried to remember what it was like when people had to call the house phone and ask my mom if they could talk to me. Or when we actually printed out copies of pictures to show our friends instead of posting them on Facebook. Don't get me wrong, this is no way a rant about me being against it, because let's be real, I'm on the internet right now writing this. But, it's more so about the way we feel about it, and almost let it control/influence our lives.

Lately, I've noticed two things the most:
1. If it's not on Facebook, it's not official. (friendships, relationships, etc.)
2. Cell phones have become second nature. (at least to some/most people)

First off, this whole Facebook thing. There are two things I find funny about it. I'm sure we've all seen the comments that say, "We're Facebook friends, now our friendship is legit." I mean, really? Sure, I've done it a couple times, but I think we're getting to the point where people are serious about it. Especially with smart phones where you can go find someone and be their friend on Facebook the minute you meet them. Weird. So then the issue of relationships on Facebook got brought up. If someone was dating someone but on Facebook it still says they're single, is that being dishonest? I don't think it is. It's someone who doesn't want to put their life on blast to the world wide web. No thank you. Plus, that just causes DRAMA. No thank you, again. :)

The deal with these phones, I mean , really people? Does your phone have to be attached to you every second of your life? While going somewhere with a friend of mine a while back, we had already left the house, and she goes, "oh no! I left my phone. blah blah blah..." And I responded with, "I think you'll survive. It'll be good for you." Maybe a little rude, but true. Let's be real. WE CAN LIVE WITHOUT OUR CELL PHONES FOR A COUPLE HOURS. It's actually quite nice, you should try it. :)

Anyways, that's all for today. Just had to get that out there. Have a lovely day!

This Little Thing Called Life

This morning I was talking to my roommate about her public speaking class. She had to write a speech about a topic that could be debated. She chose to do it on the fact that she believes that you have to put yourself out there with the risk of looking ridiculous in order for you to get anywhere in life. This got me thinking, and then, as I looked up at the mirror in our bathroom, I saw a quote that I had put on there about a week earlier. It said: "If you're not willing to look stupid, nothing great is ever going to happen to you".

I am a complete advocate of this statement. Especially after how some events these last couple of days panned out. But we won't get into that. :) Anyways, I've heard this a lot. Especially within the beauty industry. They've always said if you want to make it big, you have to jump through hoops, maybe embarrass yourself a little. It can end one of two ways. Either you succeed, and reach your goals, or you "fail", learn your lesson, and do better the next time. Right? That is more than not told to us at school by people who've been in the industry for years. It's not easy, but it will eventually be worth it, even if we have to look a little stupid at some times.

This applies to MUCH more than just the beauty industry though, let's be real. Whether it be school, a career, a relationship, you name it. That's just the way things are, no matter what. I feel like it makes life a little more fun though. If everyone got to where they wanted to go with ease, where would be the fun in that? Where would be the growth and the excitement? It wouldn't be there. We as humans, were put on this earth to progress. Constantly. We never reach a point in our lives where we're just set for the rest of our lives. We are constantly growing, and learning, and experiencing new things because that's how things were meant to be. That is God's plan for every one of us. That is how awesome life is supposed to be. So great, right?! :)

The evolution of...

MY HAIR!!



I realized I have pictures of every single hair style I've had since being here. So I figured I'd give you all the run down. :)



This is pretty much what my hair looked like when I first started school. So keep this is mind.

The first installment! Pink extensions. The extensions teacher at our school put these in for anyone who wanted them. They were pretty much the cool thing to do then. I figured this was a good way to slowly get comfortable with having weird colors in my hair, since I thought that's what I wanted in my hair when I got to school.





These two pictures are the dreaded day when I got my hair CHOPPED. As you can see. The bottom picture is how I first saw it, after it was all styled. There was no mirror in the room we were all in, So boy was I shocked when I first looked. He also told me that I will never wear my hair straight again. This hair cut was only meant for curly hair....so that night, guess what I did! I straightened it....hahahaha. Take that!



Um....no comment....hahaha. What was I thinking?! Pretty sure this is my LEAST favorite hair color I've ever had. In my head, I expected this to turn out more blondes then dark. Now when I think of what we did, I realize how silly it was for me to think of that. We obviously put more browns in compared to blonde...I'm weird. And this is gross.

So to get rid of that nasty blonde, I wanted to put a reddish/purple color in it. So I did! I LOVED this one. It turned out exactly how I wanted it to. This is definitely the "weirdest" thing I've done up to this point. But It was definitely so cool. It might just end up this way again sometime in the future. You never know.

Surprise! I'm blonde!! My senior year of high school I was more blonde than this with really dark on the bottom. So I kinda wanted to try for that again. We used a color remover on my hair. I literally went from that dark brown with red to this in one day. Crazy! A couple weeks later we put in more blonde highlights. It loved it...for a little while. I realized I'm much more of a brunette. But it was fun for the summer. And lots of people liked it on me. So that's a good sign. :)

Well, this is my hair currently. Well, almost. It's still short, but growing! and now a very pretty brown color. I love it. I did put some very dark purple panels in my bangs and towards the front, but its not too noticeable. I've pretty much come full circle, but I can't say that I'm done. I have 5 months of school left!

It's kind of weird seeing every hair style all next to each other like this. I didn't really realize how much it changed! But it has been way too fun. I am at just about 1300 hours, 700 left to go! It's going so fast! and before I know it, I'll be done. Crazyyyy!

I hope you all enjoyed this! To all you people back in Washington, I miss you, but I'm glad I got to see you when I was home!

Update

Well, I've learned that changing the ways of a college lifestyle is proving not to be an easy task. But, I do have good news! I haven't drank any pop for two weeks! As for the lunches, that's not going as well, although I have taken my lunch to school about 4 times in the last two weeks. And since I eat out all the other days, I decided to skip the fries, and go for a snack wrap, or a salad, or a smoothie. I have also tried to be good about not picking out the vegetables I normally wouldn't eat. Like peppers, or zucchini. (Yes, Mom, it's true! I'm eating my vegetables!) I've definitely been feeling better. Now I need to get into more of a workout routine. I have been able to play volleyball a lot which has been great. It at least keeps me a little active. I'm going to try and work on doing a workout dvd at least 3 times a week. Those things really work! Thats the one thing I feel is missing in my little adventure here. I will change that this week and see how it goes. but so far, I'm loving it!

Things are about to change...

In a good way! I've gotten this weird idea in my head that I want to get in shape, eat healthier, and just all around feel better. Let's be honest, I went to college my freshman year and everything I had learned went out the window! So, now that I'm newly 20, I figured it'd be the perfect time to do this. I mean, I'm in Provo, for the purpose of finding a husband...right Mom? ;)

Anyways, recently I purchase a book called 500 Health and Fitness Tips. It's probably more geared for teens, but I figure I still somewhat fit into that category. Half of it is quick little workouts, and the other half is about eating the right stuff. So great. My plan is to start with little goals, and keep adding to them. I will keep an update on here with things that work, don't work, food that is yummy(and healthy), all of that kind of stuff. I figure this will be good to keep me accountable. So, here it goes!

Goal 1: No soda, instead, I'll drink water.
Goal 2: Take my lunch to school at least 3 days a week.

I'll start with those, and see where it takes me, I'll update every week, or more often if I feel like it!

Wish me luck! :)