The Jean Quilt

Remember how I said I was going to do it? It's coming along. Slowly, but it is coming.  Remember how I said I needed one more square?  Boy was I wrong!  Haha.  As it turns out, I need about three more pairs of pants.  No biggie.  I did take the time to lay out all I do have and get that all organized. Here is the progress so far-

Now I just need to get those other three pairs of pants so I can fit them in there and start sewing!  Woohoo!

I've decided

Nothing serious HA!  Just to grow my hair out.  I haven't had long hair in quite a while, I've kept it above my shoulders for the past few years.  I had VERY long hair until middle school, then I cut it to shoulder length.  It stayed around there, with the exception of the time I cut it to chin length my junior year of high school, and then I just let it go through my first few years of college.  I don't have many fond memories of long hair.  A lot of braids, tangles, frizz, etc.  But since then, I've learned how to style my hair.  Just in the last couple years really.  As I was beginning to contemplate whether I would ever go long again, I realized this.  I can style my hair now!  And all these fun hairstyles I see, that I try out on the girls (one of the many perks of my job- playing hairstylist), I can do on me too!  Or at least try.  For a little extra confidence booster, I consulted my hair stylist friend Megan for some tips.  She always made my hair feel pretty :)  Check out her blog for some super cute tutorials.  I will have to learn how to fake volume in my hair, but I think it will be ok.  So here goes.

A journey of the hair:

Just past my shoulders, air dry then brush.  This was my hairstyle for many years.  This was shortly after I let my friends dye it in the kitchen of our dorm.  That is why it is multihued... 

 I was a dancer though, so it was always in a 

ponytail.  I didn't need to style it much, or so I thought

Eventually, I discovered the flat iron- it did wonders.

I tried going curly (with the help of Sprunch Spray), I don't have curly hair...

Then, I met Megan.

Short and dyed! With bangs!

But I let them grow out too much and soon went back to the ponytail.

And still tried to get away with "air-dry then brush"

I went back, she fixed it, I slowly became more persistent in styling, though I still let my bangs grow out too long.

 I tried an A-line for a while...

 With straight across bangs.  I liked that style, but my fast growing bang problem just became amplified with them hanging in my eyes.

 I ended up settling on this  style- short, slightly shorter in the back, side bangs.

 I kept it that way for quite a while

Slightly grown out version

 Megan moved and I went into hair confusion again.  I didn't know how to trust anyone else!  My bangs grew out so I pinned them back and just kept straightening what I had.  As the wedding approached, I had to find someone to do my hair so I wouldn't have dark roots and crazy hair.

 I found someone, and she didn't mess it up.  I never went back to her because, well she charged too much.  But at least I had good hair for my wedding!

I found another girl in Richmond that I was ok with, but I was beginning to feel like no one would ever be able to fill Megan's (super cute and stylish) shoes (am I being dramatic?  Probably.  But I really liked her!)   Then we moved to Arkansas and I started looking, I found someone to try.

 I told her the tale of my hair woes, and she carefully styled my hair into a near perfect replica of what i had before.  I was SO happy!  

 And I discovered headbands.  I have been looking for a new style, and thought the headbands might cure it.  Somewhat, but not completely.  So growing it out it is!

Camping

We went camping this weekend.  For those of you not in Arkansas, it has been 80 for the last month.  We only had to worry about the rain, which held off!  I didn't take a single picture... but we did have a lot of fun.  I enjoy my showers and having a bathroom nearby (our site was at least a half block from the bathrooms), but I am remembering how much I like camping. Just being outside, and having a fire, and cooking on a fire, and laughing until all hours of the night.  I think we are going to try and go again in a couple of weeks, I sure hope we do at least.

I'm really glad we made friends down here.  I know it was something I worried about when we were moving. I felt like I had just made friends, and was finding my place in Richmond in our new ward when we had to move.  It was slow going at first, but we found a good group that makes me laugh and feel welcome.  I hope they feel the same!

Next time, I will take pictures.  I need to get back into that for sure!

Big Rigs

These things are scary, especially if you drive a Yaris.  Yesterday, on my way home from work, I was in the lane next to one.  I was slightly behind it when it veered off into the shoulder.  I immediately slowed down because I know those things make for big crashes.  Thank goodness too.  As he drifted INTO THE DITCH he tried to correct it and came into my lane.  By this time I was a good 3-5 car lengths behind him- thankfully the highway was not busy at that time.  As he came out of the ditch he brought with him a ton of grass dirt and rocks, which proceeded to rain down on my car.  I took a big one to the windshield and now I have to have it replaced.  My insurance company quickly said, "You have glass damage coverage! (yay) The fair price in your area is 401.00, which is less than your deductible, so this will be an out of pocket expense for you (WHAT?!)"  This driver could have seriously injured a lot of people had he been on the highway an hour earlier.  I'm grateful I only have a cracked windshield.  However, I am not happy about having to replace my windshield.  I mean, why do I even have glass coverage?  I guess so I can get chips repaired for free.  I just expected more.  I suppose I should have pulled to the side of the road behind the truck and taken his insurance information?  I took his license plate number, but I was passing him too fast to drive safely AND write down his company.  So there is where I went wrong.  And now I am out the price of a windshield.

At least I am not otherwise injured!

If I could do it all again... I wouldn't

My super cute SIL just got engaged!

We've known it was coming pretty much the minute she got back from her mission.  Gosh, my MIL started gathering ideas at her halfway point.  Actually, she mentioned booking the DJ from our wedding for Sara minutes after he left our reception.  (She was barely out of the MTC!)  Anyhow... It all happened on Leap Day, which is pretty fun I think.  A day that only happens once every four years, makes for a unique story.  And I am beyond excited for her.  I was looking around on Pinterest (as I like to do on Saturday mornings, or any other time of the day, on any day) and noticed she had pinned a lot of Grey & Yellow.  So of course I asked Evan about it, and he confirmed that in fact she has picked those as her wedding colors.  It took me months to figure out colors (ok maybe not months, we were only engaged for four months, but it did take a while) so, if you are reading this, I am proud of you Sara.  Way to make decisions girl!  I sent her a quick text to tell her I like it, and after a little messaging decided I will go ahead and start pinning things for her to look through.




Is this good for me?  Probably not.  I am sure this will get out of hand at one point, but it is fun.  I did the whole wedding thing once, and I don't think I would want to do it again (plus, I intend to stay married for forever, so I won't need to do it again).  It was a little high stress in the end there (the week leading up to it).  However, I feel like with my knowledge (or really experience, I don't know if I learned all that much) I can help out a little and try to relieve some of the stress early on.

Here is the thing- planning the wedding is fun in the beginning, then it gets a little crazy but still fun, and then the wedding comes and nothing goes how you thought it would, (like, your parents get lost going to the reception, there are multiple spelling mistakes on your announcements, your photographer never sends you the pictures AHEM).  So it is important to stress early on- some things will work out, and some will not.  Decide ahead of tiem which things are VERY important and work on those the most, let the other stuff slide off.  Because two years later all you will remember is sitting in DC traffic for four hours in a wedding dress driving back from the ceremony and being so crazy happy you could explode.  It's one day in the journey of your marriage, so don't sweat it!  But looking at pictures and imagining things is so much fun, I would do that part again for sure!

Evan's cousin (who is close to Sara's age) is also getting married this summer. So, Elizabeth if you read this, I offer the same to you.  I will channel my pinterest addiction to aid you in the search for the perfect items- Just let me know the details!