Curl up and Dye

Growing up in my family saw many Saturdays of Mom cutting my brothers' hair. Every other Saturday it was a ritual-oldest to youngest and then everyone helped clean up. When I was about two years old, I thought I should try to help my Mother by easing her burden of so many hairs to cut. When she left with the boys to a scout activity after one such ritual of cutting hair, I took the scissors and snipped every long, dark curl off my head. When my Mom came home from the activity, she was mortified. She took me immediately to the hair salon where I got a perm and the lady fixed the haircut. It turned out to be one of my Mom's favorite hairstyles for me as a little girl.

After that and until the age of 14, I basically just grew my hair out and occasionally trimmed it. When I turned 14, I went to the salon and told the hairdresser to cut it off. She did just that. She cut my hair to my chin. Because my hair is very thick, it turned into an impossible-to-make-pretty poofball. I went home and cried. I determined to never cut my hair short again.

As many of you know, I just turned 21. Since the age of 14, I have only trimmed my hair and done occasional highlights. Two days ago all of that changed. I have never dyed my hair in my life. But, Saturday night, I dyed it. The whole head! My hair is now brown. DARK brown. The hairdresser also cut three inches off and gave me bangs. What a drastic change. I looked in the mirror and decided I loved it. I really do. I have never liked a drastic change in my hair before. But, I LOVE this change. Thank you, my dear sister, for the perfect birthday present.

Happy Birthday

Last night I went on a "date" with my roommate. We went shopping, she took me out to dinner, it was a wonderful time. Later, Audrey got a phone call on her cell phone that I answered. "You can come home now, there are people here." I thought that was strange. But I didn't connect a thing. Later Caitie called and said there were a couple guys at home who were awkward and they really wanted us to come home to entertain them. We hurried home. Crossing the porch to my front door, I noticed all the lights were out and the door was locked. Weird! I thought they were home. slowly I opened the door. The lights turned on and, "SURPRISE!!!!!" was yelled out by a ton of people. What a happy surprise! I have never been surprised on my birthday. It was such a wonderful night.

During the course of the evening, audrey and Tolkien Boy asked me what I had learned during the past year. I couldn't tell them right away, but it has caused some serious reflection in myself. What have I learned this past year? How am I different? How have I grown? One major difference this year is that I actually wanted people to acknowledge my birthday. Last year, I didn't want anyone to do anything. I wanted it to be forgotten. I realized that I have learned a lot about myself. I have learned to like myself. I am not afraid to be myself. I also found what kind of woman I wanted to become throughout my life. And as a result, I have goals and I'm excited to meet them. I know I can make a difference in people's lives and I want to help people. I love music and I'm finally in the music program at BYU. I'm learning things I'm excited about. I'm helping children learn to love music. I'm learning more and more every day how blessed I am and how much responsibility I have with the blessings I have been given.

I have learned that instead of just "getting through" life, I am going to conquer it and have a good time doing so. Life is good. Thank you everyone for the examples and love you have shown me. Everyone has made a difference in my life. You're all amazing.

I'll survive

I had a wonderful cuddle session last night. I'll survive. :)

Self Inflicted Torture

Last night I went on a great date. The guy was a lot of fun. I was laughing the whole time. We went to Comedy Sports and then out for ice cream. He's a biology major. I'm a music major. He's got a quirky sense of humor. I think it's hilarious. He opened the door for me in and out of the car. "Thank you for opening my doors." I said. "Thank you for letting me. Not many girls do." At the end of the night, I felt really good about the date. I thought he would say something about maybe doing something another night. I told him, "Thank you so much for the date, I really had a great time." He said, "Thank you. It was really good to meet you." Nothing about another date! Sad. It's been a while since I had a great time on a first date.

So as I type this blog, I'm watching Hitch. Great flick. The only problem is that there are some cute love stories in it. I've been all right for a while now. I have been grateful I'm not dating anyone. It would be much too stressful to date anyone with the schedule I have. But, after last night, I've been in the mood to date. We'll see. Sometime I will begin dating again. Until then, perhaps I should refrain from inflicting the torture of watching fake love stories unfold on the TV screen before my eyes.

The Awesomest Super-Woman Dive Ever!

Well my friends I am pretty much the coolest person ever. Have you ever known anyone to do a superman dive with a double back flip? Neither have I... until tonight. Well, I didn't so much watch it as I was a part of it. Ya see, there's this guy I was trying to show off for and I thought to myself, "I bet he would fall in love with me if I dove down the stairs." It was more like I fell for him. He better appreciate that! After I did it, I realized it wasn't the smartest idea I'd ever had of showing myself off. *sigh* What one does for love. Is love a fancy or a fool? In my case... I'd say fool. So much for a romantic night at the library. Actually, this was only the beginning of our relationship. I hear that boys tend to date girls that break/sprain their ankles. What can I say? I have weak ankles. ;)

I am a gimp. I'm not quite sure how this will pan out this semester. I have two dance classes and one exercise science class where I run and jump and do cartwheels and everything! After it happened, I realized it's probably a blessing because I've been running around too much this semester as it is. The Lord knew I needed some time to sit down. I'll be doing more of that than I'd like. Not dancing will be the hardest part. I love dancing. Feel free to visit me. I love visitors!

Happy, Happy and Happy!

My vocal technique professor told me I sounded really good today! It's the first time anyone from the music faculty has given me a compliment. And he's the head of the vocal department! He was walking around the group, stopped at me and was very pleased. He said, "do you realize how good that sounds?" *sigh* There is pay-off when you work hard. I left the class smiling my head off. Life is good. Life is very good.