Ending the 31 Days

Week of December 19th- December 31st

Saturday, December 19th- Help those helping others. Any donation to www.homebasedcare.org will supply medicine plus sterile gloves and a bicycle to a caregiver for people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sunday, December 20th- Reach out to the new kid. $35 dollars buys a winter coat for a resettled refugee in the U.S. at www.theirc.org

Monday, December 21st- Feed four children in Tanzania a healthy breakfast for just $1 dollar at www.gocampaign.org a nonprofit run with the help of kids from the United States.

Tuesday, December 22nd- Warm toes. Only $5 bucks to www.hannahssocks.org buys seven pairs for a homeless person.

Wednesday, December 23rd- Play trivia. At www.freekibble.com every answer- right or wrong- sends 10 pieces of dog or cat food to an animal shelter in need. (Another favorite of ours!)

Thursday, December 24th- Help women recover after childbirth. www.fistulafoundation.org helps train doctors to care for the 2 to 3 million women who have injuries from prolonged or obstructed labor.

Friday, December 25th- Stock a refigerator. Just one dollar to www.feedingamerica.org will provide nine POUNDS of groceries to a hungry family in our country. (Biggest Loser is a HUGE supporter of Feed America and have started the Pound-for-Pound challenge, where people can pledge to lose weight and help in their communities. For every single pround they pledge AND lose, one pound of food gets sent to a needy shelter. AMAZING!)

Saturday, December 26th- Knit. Send squares to www.warmupamerica.org ; They'll be made into afghans and given to battered-women's shelters. 

Sunday, December 27th- Give peace to survivors of sexual trauma. $47 dollars to the International Medical Corps www.imcworldwide.org delivers medical and mental health care to refugees who have suffered sexual violence. 

Monday, December 28th- Turn your wedding into a charitable event. At www.idofoundation.org you can link your registry to your favorite cause. Each purchase triggers a donation from the retailer. 

Tuesday, December 29th- Starve a landfill. Make this a "no wrapping paper" year. Use newspapers instead.

Wednesday, December 30th- Keep a woman safe. At www.madre.org $30 dollars buys a cell phone for a rural Afghan woman; if threatened, she can make a life-saving call.

Thursday, December 31st- Gift the gift of opportunity. At www.worldvisionmicro.org you can make a microloan to help a woman in a developing country get her own small business up and running.

Have a wonderful few weeks, everyone! Love you all!

-A

 

Week 2 and 3 of 31 Days

Sorry, everyone! I'm a week behind. I was too busy this last week to log on.
It truely doesn't matter what day order you do these in; I'm only writing them in order from the magazine. Hope you all are having a good time with this :)
-A

Weeks of December 8th- December 18th

Tuesday, December 8th- Get lifesaving malaria medication to 10 children: by donating $25 dollars to www.savethechildren.org

Wednesday, December 9th- Click and give at www.care2.org. Every click you make prompts a sponsor to make a donation that will fight breast cancer, animal abuse and more.

Thursday, December 10th- Surf and give. Use www.goodsearch.com to find what you're looking for online, and every single search will send money to the cause of your choice. 

Friday, December 11th- Regift. Turn gift cards you'll never use into donations to your favorite charity at www.plasticjungle.com

Saturday, December 12th- Provide solar power. $50 bucks to www.goodgifts.org will send an African village a solar lamp, stove and water heater.

Sunday, December 13th- Prevent disease. A $50 dollar donation will allow www.doctorswithoutboarders.org to vaccinate 50 people against meningitis, polio and other life-threatening diseases. 

Monday, December 14th- Send a free holiday card to a soldier abroad. (This is Chris and my favorite Day of Giving so far.) Go to www.redcross.org/email/saf

Tuesday, December 15th- Have a potluck with your friends instead of going out to dinner. Give the $35 dollars you saved to www.strength.org to feed a child for a month.

Wednesday, December 16th- Keep someone's lights on. Even $5 dollars to www.smallcanbebig.org makes a difference to a family who needs help with bills due to domestic violence or other tragedies. 

Thursday, December 17th- Inspire a leader. A donation to Binti Pamoja Center (their name means "daughters united" in Swahili) helps a girl in a Kenyan slum pay for school and learn to be a comunity leader. 

Friday, December 18th- Keep girls on the team. Giving to Robin Roberts GoGirlGo! Fund (at www.womenssportsfoundation.org will help girls displaced by Hurricane Katrina stay in sports. 

Love you all. Hope you have a wonderful week.

XOXO-

A

 

  

Spirit of Giving- the 31 Days Begin!

I read an incredible article in my Glamour magazine (Dec'09 issue) using each day of December to do something to benefit those that are needy in our communities, and just ways to better the world. I am taking the challenge. I hope you do the same. At the very least, pick one task from each week list or complete each day with me! It's AMAZING what we can do when we help each other out. 
I will start by listing this week's challenges and will post every Monday the next week's list. Even a little bit helps. Most won't even cost you a dime!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.
-A

The 31 Days of Giving

Week of December 1st- December 7th

Tuesday, December 1st: Help get PJs to kids in shelters so they won't have to sleep in their clothes by giving just $10 dollars at www.pajamaprogram.org.

Wednesday, December 2nd: Mentor a struggling student online at www.icouldbe.org. Studies show that a little boost can double a kid's chance of going to college.

Thursday, December 3rd: Donate books you've already read to your library. (Most public libraries accept them.)

Friday, December 4th: End homelessness through soccer: $10 dollars to www.streetsoccerusa.org helps a homeless person meet challenges off and on the field. 

Saturday, December 5th: Fight malnutrition. A $1 dollar gift to www.vitaminangels.org will provide much-needed vitamin supplements to children in places like Honduras, Haiti and even poor areas of the United States. 

Sunday, December 6th: Tend a garden. $5 dollars to www.dinnergarden.org buys seeds for enough veggies to feed a struggling family of seven. 

Monday, December 7th: Do some pro bono work. Whether you're in marketing or IT, www.taprootfoundation.org can match you with a non-profit in your community that needs your skills.

Until next week,

-A

 

Happy Thanksgiving

In thought of the season approaching and today's meaning for being thankful, I wanted to post a clever email I received recently on changing your perspective to be grateful for even the 'trials' in your life. Read on...


I thank God....

FOR THE WIFE
WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT,
BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME,
AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE.


FOR THE HUSBAND
WHO IS ON THE SOFA
BEING A COUCH POTATO,
BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME
AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS..


FOR THE TEENAGER
WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES
BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME,
NOT ON THE STREETS.


FOR THE TAXES I PAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED .



FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS.


FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.



FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE



FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING,
WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING,
AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME


FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING
I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
BECAUSE IT MEANS WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.


FOR THE PARKING SPOT
I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING
AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION .


FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM.


FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH
WHO SINGS OFF KEY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN HEAR.



FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.


FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES
AT THE END OF THE DAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.



FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF
IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE.


AND I AM THANKFUL:
FOR THE crazy people I work with
BECAUSE they make work interesting and fun!
     
AND FINALLY, FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL

BECAUSE IT MEANS
I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE
THINKING OF ME...


Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
-A

Ways to Say You're Thankful (Without Eating)

It's less than one week now until the big Thanksgiving Day, and aside from the big meal (what Thanksgiving has become known for), I challenge everyone to find ways afterward and before to give thanks to your loved ones and have fun as a family! To help give you a jumpstart on some ideas, here is a great article I found from Weight Watchers...
Love you all. I'm so thankful for each one of you!
Happy Turkey Day!

Zero-Calorie Thanksgiving Day Ideas... 

View on life

This last week has been a rough week, but I'm glad that I went through it.  Throughout the week days I find myself in a job that I dislike.  But there is a silver lining, as every evening I come home to my Darling wife who's waiting and very happy to see me come home.

Amy has started beauty school this week, and I can't be prouder.  My biggest priority in this relationship has been to make sure she gets through school.  Of course, she hates school (who doesn't) so this ends up being a bit of a struggle.  But luckily she's cooperating.  And making tips!  She cut two people's hair this weekend and ended up coming home with money!

Amy also got a letter from AFA, the company she's getting certification for in order to teach exercise classes, informing her that she hadn't passed the written and so would not yet be recieving her certification.  The next class we can get her to will be in December up in Logan.

Gonna be a long Saturday.

My cool thing this weekend has been getting Windows 7 working on Macintosh Bootcamp.  The challenges started in that I bought a $36 upgrade version which in order to get to custom install (I had xp, which you can't install from) to work you have to put the product key in AFTER you install the OS.  The second thing was the drivers, as Apple doesn't want to support Windows 7 right off the bat.  You have to start the driver installer from the command prompt in order to get past some configuration issues.

Yesterday I visited a friend whom I hadn't seen in months.  It was a reminder to me of how great my life is, as he is still living in his relatives basement and does nothing all day except play on his computer.  While that sounds great, I am so glad I have a wife who cares about me and a family that encourages us to get out and do things.  Being stuck in a basement playing computer all day is not my idea of fun.

On the family side, I am so incredibly proud to hear about Nathan's progress in the Church.  Knowing that he's getting the priorities in life sorted and may one day serve a mission makes me feel incredibly happy. 

Well I love you all, and have a great week!

Daylight S(l)avings and Getting More Sleep

Changing our clocks back an hour may be a blessing to some; but for those of us (including me) that don't run by alarm clocks, but by body clocks, it isn't that much fun. I can't sleep in for the life of me. Even on weekends, I'm up (naturally) by 7 am and sometimes earlier. I can't complain because I really love the mornings. I feel that's the best part of the day and I love getting my start. This part of the year tends to make me extremely tired, though. I wanted to share with you all a cool article I found on getting more energy to be able to last throughout the day. Enjoy!

-A

Wake up with More Energy

Remi Gaillard, the French Prankster

Chris stumbled upon these hilarious videos from a French prankster, Remi Gaillard. You can find more of them on YouTube, if you want. Caution: several of them contain crude subtitles. Anyway, enjoy! Here are some of our favorites!

And the best of all...

Swine Flu

So after a week long battle with swine flu, Amy and I are sitting here with cabin fever.

It all started on Monday when I didn't feel well enough and went into the doctors. They said I looked and tested okay, I got some meds, and was sent home. Half-way through the day Tuesday I suddenly started to feel nauseous. Wednesday I woke up feeling horrible, and went downhill from there.

Thursday was the worst possible day. Sleeping in 15-30min intervals, my body forcing any fluids out in any way possible sometimes at the same time, absolutely no energy to do anything. Worst. Day. Ever.

Luckily Amy never felt any of this, having avoided the majority of the disease suffering only from a sore throat and some fatigue. The angel took care of me thankfully and life was good.

Now we are stuck. stuck in this home. With the in-laws!

Turn of the Season

It's FALL again! The weather is FINALLY getting cooler outside, the leaves are just beginning to change and best of all... Biggest Loser Season 8 premiers tomorrow night! I honestly love everything about the show and it motivates me even more to be a stronger, healthier, happier person every day.
It's a season of "Second Chances," from those stories, such as Daniel (of Season 7), who's coming back for this season to lose the rest of the weight, formerly weighing is as the BIGGEST contestant ever to weigh-in on the Biggest Loser. This season we will meet Shay, the new BIGGEST contestant ever, who will really be getting her "Second Chance" at LIFE.
I can't WAIT to see the premiere tomorrow night- I can tell it's going to be a great season just from the previews. It airs Tuesday nights on NBC at 7pm.

Changing Paces

Wow, it's been such a long time since I've blogged and updated you all.
Some big changes have been happening along the career and schooling front for me. Firstly, I've decided to change beauty schools and transfer to Sherman Kendall Academy (www.shermankendall.com). I've heard nothing but great things about the school/the teachers/the real-life job experience from my hairstylist and all of her co-workers. I recently spoke with Corey, the Director of Admissions there and am meeting with him tomorrow afternoon to meet and greet the instructors and take a tour of the campus. I can't wait!
At SLCC, I just wasn't feeling NEARLY prepared enough to be out in the real world doing hair and managing my time efficiently. We barely had any clients coming in, so it got to the point of just sitting around and working on manniquins. I went to school keeping my fingers crossed that I might get a client that day. How was that going to prepare me?
I'm halfway through my hours in the program and had close to no confidence whatsoever in doing hair. I seriously felt as though I was getting discount education. It got to the point where I dreaded just going to school, knowing I wouldn't learn anything new from the previous day. I started hating to go. I began wondering whether or not hair was something I really wanted to do- something I've DREAMED about doing since I was really little. And that's where I had my reality check. It wasn't the career- it was the SCHOOL.
I can now honestly tell you I haven't been this excited to go back to school since I first started at SLCC. I will be going part-time (the reason to follow!) and we don't run in semesters, but months. I will be graduating this coming September, prepared and ready to work ON MY OWN, confident and able. It's finally time to stop messing around and get MOVING!

Okay, so that's that. Time for my second big news- I'm going to be certifying as a group fitness instructor on September 26th! I registered with AFAA online yesterday, and my books and manuals to study are on their way, and should arrive within the next 10 days... Not much time to study; I'll be cramming it in! I'm so THRILLED to have this opportunity. After losing 35 pounds since last January, fitness has become a HUGE part of my life and I'm feeling so amazing! I want to inspire others to get fit and feel the same way I do. I can't wait to be teaching my own fitness classes as an AFAA partner (probably at a Gold's Gym, 24 Fitness, or whoever will take me at first and work my way up) and be teaching Step class and perhaps Kickboxing. I feed off the energy of group exercise and it just pumps me up for the day. The second big plus of being a fitness teacher, is the flexible schedule. By only taking me away for 1-2 hours a day, I'll be able to be home with my kids later on (after doing hair, of course! :]). I need to get in touch with the hospital soon, because I need to have a current CPR certification card with me when I certify on the 26th.

Anyway, that's all for my exciting news!
Love you all!
Many xo's- A

Happy Pioneer Day Weekend!

Chris and I are planning some fun things for this 3-day weekend. Tomorrow we are hoping to make it to Lagoon by mid-afternoon and spend the rest of the day there. I'm way excited! It's going to be a scorcher, so we'll need to load up on water and sunblock. Marc and Shelly invited us earlier in the week to go with them to the Bee's game that night, but we'll see if we're back in time. That could be really fun, too!
I don't think we're planning on setting any fireworks off, since it's just us at home for the week, but perhaps Lagoon will set some off.
Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend!
-A

Well, Dang it.

So, a funny thing really did happen on the way to work today-- I got my first speeding ticket. It was an odd situation: I wasn't speeding on purpose. I wasn't late for anything. In fact, I didn't realize I was speeding until the cops pulled me over. They were set up at the end of a road I take to work, behind a pickup truck. As I came around the corner, they clocked me at 40 in a 25 zone. They booked me for 35, and for that I guess I'm lucky.

What happened is something that I think a lot of us get in trouble for. We get too comfortable in our surroundings. Had I known that I was going 40, I would have slowed down immediately. But I got so comfortable with the road and the trip that I didn't even take the time to check my speedometer. Similarly in life, we run into many situations. Whether at work, on the road, or spiritually, we get so comfortable that we don't check our gauges. Whether it be our attendance at meetings, our diligence in scanning the road, we become ignorant until it is too late and the mistake is on the books.

While I will continue to leave early to make it on time to work, this was a sad reminder that I need to watch myself in my daily activities.

A funny thing happened on the way to work this morning...

So we're fairly not busy this afternoon, so I thought I'd post something real quick.

Amy did great in her 5k, taking about 27-28 minutes, which put her roughly who knows where in the pack. But for her first 5k, I think she ranks pretty high. The unfortunate thing is that while she was in good enough shape to not die on the side of the road, prior conditioning did not include street running leaving my poor baby with a throbbing knee and a conviction to miss the next 5k. While we will get her up and running again, we will have to run into the doctors tomorrow morning to get her checked out.

Work life is stressful, but we've caught up mostly so now it's finishing projects that have been sorely neglected. I've been having fun on a new Mac I purchased. Yes, I have a computer (or 3). No, I didn't need another. But it's been fun to have a machine to play with that will help me in work. Okay, it's really good hardware and plays all my games, even new ones. But there are education and job bonus' for having it!

The baby birds on the porch have grown pretty big and at this rate will be off and flying here in the next week. For those that didn't know, we're raising a flock of birds (okay, their parents are, we watch) outside the basement window. They are the cutest things. Unfortunately due to rain and size increments, the birds will have to leave the mud nest or risk rolling off of the beam when they start to sleep walk.

Well that's about it for now, love ya all!

Heads up... Summer's here!

Chris turned 24 this last Thursday (June 25th). I poked and prodded until I he got work off for the day, ha ha. I knew that one of the "presents" he'd want would be to sleep in, so while he was snoozing, I ran off to Gold's to get a work out in... and finish some birthday shopping! As soon as I got home, we both got something to eat and he opened his present; a few trips past the entertainment section at Super WalMart and I found out that he really wanted Street Fighter 4 for the X Box 360. I also bought a large chocolate cupcake for us to share-- I was hoping to find Red Velvet cupcakes, but they didn't have any freshly made. Bummer.

We then proceeded to get ready for the day, and drove out to Salt Lake around 2. I had a paper due in English, and even though I was taking the day off from school, my paper had to be turned in- Prof. Frogley is strict about late work.

After that, we drove over to our old neighborhood in Sandy, to get some lunch at Olive Garden. It felt really good to visit Sandy again. It'll always be a special place for me, being the first place we lived as newlyweds. After getting something to eat, we walked over to South Towne Mall to do a little more birthday shopping.

We finished our fun day seeing Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. We went into the movie with high expectations... and left kind of disappointed. We both agree that it didn't have very much of a story line and was too long. We had a blast that day, and it's always a good time going on day-dates together.


I'm running the 4th of July 5k this coming Saturday. I still need to register for that this week, and it'll be my very first 5k, but I'm way excited. I've been training for the last month and a half, so we'll see how I do. I'm not going into it with very high expectations, but hoping this will begin a habit of running in more 5ks and half-marathons to come!

Has it been a year already?!

Realizing more and more each day how close we're getting to our one-year wedding anniversary (next Sunday)! Without a doubt, this has been the best year of my life. I've really enjoyed getting to better know Chris and having new adventures with him. I'm definitely ready for more years to come. Bring it on!
Chris let me know yesterday morning that he had a surprised planned for our anniversary and that we weren't just staying ONE night at a hotel. That's the only clue I was given... of course I got the rest out of him. He couldn't leave it hanging! Looks like we're booked for two nights this coming weekend (the 29th-31st) at the Homestead Resort up at Midway. We're planning on getting a couple's massage on Saturday afternoon (I'm still convincing Chris of this) and just relaxing all weekend. I seriously can't wait! ... Now I just need to figure out what to get him....?

Weight Lifted

Chris and I just finished watching Seven Pounds, starring Will Smith, and I'm telling you now, if you haven't seen it, you must. The beginning is a little slow coming into the movie, as they set the scene but you catch up fairly quickly. I really can't go into much detail, as I don't want to give the storyline away, but it's quite the tear-jerker. If you're into movies that entail a lot of thinking about your own life, this would be a good choice. This is not a usual genre I'm used to seeing Will Smith play out, [I'm so used to familiarizing him with comedy] but it proved to me that he's a true actor. He's able to adapt to any kind of situation. All in all, definitely worth buying.

You only turn 20 once

I'd just like to start off by saying that Chris completely spoiled me! My birthday was so much fun!
I started the morning with my usual Friday morning Step Class up at Gold's (can't miss it, especially on my birthday! That class makes me feel so good!) and then came home to shower. Chris had run off to WalMart to do some shopping- gotta love the male species, always waiting 'til the very last minute. We left the house about noon and stopped at Subway for some lunch. After eating, we went to the Gateway Mall and did some birthday shopping. After a fun trip to VS, we went over to the Planetarium and saw Deep Sea 3D- it was SO much better than I thought it was going to be. Definitely worth seeing again. We were in a huge auditorium theater with hundreds of giggling little kids, obviously on Spring Break. Jim Carrey narrates the show and does a fabulous job! It was hilarious!
The timing was just right leaving the mall; we had just enough time for dinner at Rodezio Grill. I was mainly after the spicy chicken wings and salad bar. I didn't count points that day, just in case you're wondering. We then headed to the Hale Center Theatre to see Phantom. I'm a little disappointed that they didn't follow the original story line, but the cast was full of great singers and actors. I wouldn't reccommend seeing it for those who haven't.
The night ended with a stay at the Anniversary Inn at the Hayloft. I'm going to end the story there, you probably know how it ends. :)
Fabulous birthday! I really don't know how I can top that for Chris' birthday coming up in June. We did, however, purchase tickets to the Elton John concert for November and also have a bounce-back pass to the Inn. I'm trying to persuade Chris that we should use it then. We'll see.

xoxo
A

blog blog blog...

So obviosly I'm not the blogging type. But with the proper motivation (yes dear) you can get me on our site and posting something.

Right now I've got Amy playing love songs with me. Right now it's 1,2,3,4 by Plain White T's. It's one of my favorite things, sitting next to each other or snuggling on the couch or bedroom listening to music. I've got some Journey songs on my iPhone I love to listen to, as well as Ingrid Michealson (probably spelled wrong, but oh well) and quite a few others.

We're also watching Princess Diarys, one of the movies I love secretly but would never admit to the guys at work. Call me wierd, call me stupid, but don't insult my movies! Of course, I've got Amy convinced to go to Star Trek in May, but you probably won't get her to admit that one. And Nathan and I have a bro date for Terminator. Transformers for my birthday, X-men next month, and Toy Story next year also made my list. I still would love to go see Monster's vs. Aliens, but am having a hard time convincing Amy to go.

On that note, please don't watch Knowing. To be honest, it was an excellent idea and had a very strong start. Unfortunatly, being told that aliens planted human life on earth and that they caused a girl to go crazy really turned me off.

Well, that's all for now.

Getting burned out

I'm so thankful that I only have three weeks left of torture, or I mean Esthetics. I guess I could say that I'm glad I had this experience so I know for sure that I want to do hair. It gets so hard finding the motivation to go everyday, but I'm almost done. For our practical final, we are demonstrating a Classic European facial, which lasts about an hour and a half. It consists of two basic cleanses, high frequency treatment, extractions with the mag-lamp, massage with oil and finishes off with a masque and steam. I'm a little nervous since I don't quite have all the steps down, but I'm getting better. I can see it being a test I cram for and then afterwards forgetting everything. Esthetics has just become boring to me.
I've been thinking about it for a while, and for Summer semester, I will take a break from regular beauty school classes to focus on the other classes I need to graduate. I need to take courses like Eng 1010, Communications, Human Relations and Salon Success. It'll be better that I focus and get these classes done and then I can get back into speed with beauty school. Can't wait to graduate! It just can't get here soon enough!

Family Visits

My parents flew in from Oahu, Hawaii this last Wednesday morning to visit for the rest of the week. It's been so good hanging out with my mom again, and good to see my dad, too. On Friday night, Trevor had a birthday party over at Grandma Bailey's house in Erda. [Trevor is Scott and KaCee's 2 year old] And then last night, my dad took the whole family [Marc came up with his little family. His wife, Michelle, is now in her third trimester of pregnancy and they're expecting their 2nd boy in June. Yay!] to Grand America for a family dinner. We got some exciting news from KaCee- she's expecting as well. They will be finding out the sex of the baby on my birthday next month and will be expecting their new baby early September. I'm so thrilled about these new family members! I'm looking forward to meeting my new nephews or nieces! Marc and Shelly left to go back home earlier this afternoon and Scott and KaCee's family is staying the night tonight. Mom and Dad fly back to Hawaii tomorrow afternoon and it's been so great to be with everyone again!
Mom will be making another visit here in May for an important doctor's appointment- she's due to get a full knee replacement sometime in June (close to when Michelle's baby is due!) and will be here in Stansbury, resting.
That's about all for now.

Oh, one more thing- I joined twitter this last week. My username is mrsamynielson if you want to find me.

xoxo,
A

Feelin' GOOD!

We had midterm exams this week and I'm so glad they're over! Both turned out a lot better than I was expecting. The written test was on Tuesday, with 80 multiple choice questions, three charts to fill in (parts of the human cell, shoulders in the arms/shoulders, and bones in the skull). We had a huge cram session right before Teressa let us take the test, and I did great! I only missed 6 out of 105 points possible! Wednesday brought a new testing environment: the waxing practical exam in the Esthetics lab. I had my good friend Ashley come in as my model. We were directed to perform one yellow wax (arms, legs. Yellow wax is used with the cloth strips) and one blue wax (eyebrows, armpits, upper lip, ect). The legs came really easy to me, although it took a lot of time and we finished with waxing Ashley's eyebrows (her armpit hair wasn't long enough to wax). It was exhausting but really good practice.

Trina and I barely got home today from evaluations and I found out that I scored a 96. Teressa said I work on the thickness of the blue wax when I apply. Woohoo! I'm so glad testing is over now.

Hair no more, Facials begin

Just catching you guys up on what's been going on in Esthetics class. We started practicing waxing this past week and I came to class Tuesday to the unpleasant surprise of Bikini waxing. Holy, can you say PAINFUL? I felt like I had been sitting on a horse most of the day when we finished. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm happy that we won't be learning OR practicing the full Brazilian, but I did hear some of Morning students had it done. Ow.

On the brighter side, Amal (an Israeli woman from our class, really nice lady, she moved here a few years ago with her husband and kids) tought us the art of hair threading. It's a process of using basic sewing thread and twisting it up, with a loop on one end and the other end anchored in your mouth. You place the loop around the line or section of hair you want to remove and "spin" the thread. She practiced this on a few of my classmates, including me. This was fairly painful, too; if I could explain how it feels, it's like having a zipper on your skin. You feel every single hair as it pops out... I think I can feel good sticking to shaving, thanks. But it's nice that our teacher's mustache is now gone. Just kidding, Teresa.

Now that we're done with our waxing chapter, we've moved on to basic facials and massages. We're learning pressure points and relation to the muscles in the face and tissues of the body. Very interesting. I feel like we're FINALLY getting to the good stuff in this class.

Life in the hot spot

So things have been crazy at the bookstore. We're trying to catch up while simultaneously handling new projects. It's fun to have a chalange like this though. Amy and I are doing well, and are planning a fun valentines day, but I'm not sure how I can top last valentines day. Something about the fact you proposed kinda throws a kink in that hope.

Esthetics!

As most of you know, I've been busy doing Orientation Esthetics at beauty school this semester. It's nice to have a small break from doing hair everyday, but I'll be back to doing that this Summer. Esthetics mainly deals with "the health and beauty of the skin" (actual quote from our textbooks). I'll be learning to wax in a few short weeks and hopefully Chris will let me practice on him (Ha ha, I love you, honey!). I won't be getting into very detailed facials, massages, or the dreaded Brazillian Bikini Wax (that's just saved for Master Esthetics, which I'm not sure I want to take.) I'll be learning to do basic manicures, pedicures, waxing and small facials for now. Our teacher told us this past week that we can no longer shave our armpits, legs and tweeze our eyebrows. I'm beginning to feel like I'm camping again!

My New Job

Well, here we go. I've started my new position at The University of Utah as the Department Manager, and I can say without a doubt that I'm scared to death. But I know that as time moves on I'll begin to adjust and enjoy my new line of work. Course I still have to find my way out of the pile of macs on the shelves.

Sudden Gym Rat

I was so excited when they opened a brand new Gold's Gym up in Tooele and I was able to join yesterday. I went to my first Step Aerobics class and I loved everything about it! Our teacher, Shannon, is a high-energy mom that's completely hilarious. Our class runs fairly fast-paced and since I've never been in a step-class, I didn't know any of the usual moves and was behind a lot of the time (Glad I was in the back!), pretty funny. Our class size was near to perfect and I love the music we work out to. GG has different classes and instructors all week long and I'm interested in starting a pilates class and perhaps a cycling one, as well. Can't wait to go again!