kay.tee.

MOVED.

2011-06-17T23:08:00.002-06:00

About a month ago I tried to log in and blogger couldn't "verify my email." After about a week of going totally nuts, I decided to start posting at a new url. After all, things have changed a lot for me since I started posting here. I spent awhile brainstorming any combinations of words to go together that hadn't been taken and landed on this:

milehighmaven.blogspot.com

Please join me.

a whole lot of healthy

2011-05-17T22:05:00.005-06:00

Lately a lot of people have been asking me a lot of questions about Paleo. It's connection with Crossfit has made it pretty popular, and it seems to be spreading all over the place. A couple of girls from the salon started reading The Paleo Solution and trying to cut out some processed food. I challenged them to a Whole30, which is a whole 30 days of eating strict Paleo, no cheats, no excuses. They excitedly excepted, then the buzz got going and I think there's 8 of us total that started today. Tuesday is a little random but it is what worked for us. Between eating mostly paleo for the last 5 1/2 months and the race on Sunday I decided it was fair to give myself a couple of days to reset. I was surprised that I didn't feel like going totally crazy but yesterday morning Victoria and I hit up my favorite breakfast place- Snooze, which is known for it's over the top pancakes.

I ordered the pancake flight, which is 3 different flavored pancakes. Red Velvet, Pineapple Upside Down, and Cinnfull(filled with white chocolate chunks and a bacon caramel. Yes, I said bacon caramel.)

My recovery from Sunday is going pretty alright. I promised Ashley that I wouldn't run until I feel recovered. Luckily I am on a month of unlimited Core Power Yoga. I've been taking classes for 2 weeks now and I really like it, but I am wondering if I will ever get more flexible. I spend a lot of time stretching before and after work outs, but never seem to get any more flexible. It's frustrating and kind of embarrassing. One thing I learned from Sunday was that my tight hamstrings and hip flexors are really hindering my stride. This yoga business is not cheap and I'm starting to think I'm going to have to spend my entire savings before I can even reach my toes.

Marathoner!

2011-05-15T15:48:00.004-06:00

Before I even go into all of the craziness of today I have to announce that I officially made my charity goal. I raised OVER $500 for Denver Metro Partners! Thanks to all of those who so generously donated. I was especially moved by my uncle, Bryan, who made an extra generous donation this weekend and put me at the $500 mark.

I woke up this morning at 4:30 and headed straight to the kitchen to make my regular breakfast. Seriously, who eats eggs and bacon instead of bagels before a marathon? This girl, that's who. I wanted to give myself time to stretch and wake up, plus I had dreams all night that I was late and missed the race. When I signed up for this race I saw that it had a 6:00 am start time and was excited that it would be before the sun came out. Colorado is seriously ALWAYS so sunny. Except for this week. Monday it snowed a little but they were predicting 77 degree weather for today. It's been raining non stop for 4 days now and when I left this morning it was only 38 with a light drizzle. I decided to stick with my original outfit but put on an old zip hoodie and a cheap pair of gloves. Amazingly, the race started at City Park which is my go to run spot. It was so close to my apartment that I was able to walk to the race!

When I got there I downed half a banana and met up with my client Meredith. She's ran several marathons in the past but today she was doing a half. She has been such a great (down to earth, no sugarcoating) inspiration to me!

The course started out together but split at mile 2. We ran past my favorite bar, my favorite cupcake shoppe, and even past my apartment- then we split and I was glad to see the sea of people lighten up. Right around mile 3 a guy I had been running near came up on me and verified that I was running the marathon and not the relay. He told me, "You're going to be my pacer." What a great compliment. Unfortunately this was probably a mistake because I went faster than I probably should have. On the plus side it was nice to have someone to chat with.

Ashley jumped in with me at mile 9. She was impressed with my time so far and at first we thought I might get my sub 4. I realized by 14 that wasn't going to happen today, and was fine with that. It was cold and wet and my tight hip flexors HURT. She coached me the whole way, "Get it Girl", "good job!", "You're doing great." She also asked bystanders "Doesn't she look awesome?!" And informed people that it was my first race so they would keep me pumped up. She got my water, ripped open my Gu, and handed out high fives. As we ran past a shiny store window she told me, "Look in this window when we get up to it. Look at yourself, YOU ARE RUNNING A MARATHON." I'll admit it, I got choked up. She was right. This is something I never have had on my bucket list because I never thought it was an attainable goal. It is only because of her constant coaching that I jumped in with both feet and signed up.

She left me around 21ish and I realized there was no way I was going to make it without a porta potty stop. Because it was cold I wasn't sweating as much and had to pee back at like mile 11. I saw one that was vacant and ran as fast as I could to it. I figured I didn't want to have to get to the end and have to pee before even smiling for a picture. I felt SO much better after, and was able to pick up my pace a little. In no better timing because then I ran into some friends.

First was at the top of a BIG hill, Adam, Rachel, Megan, and Chelsie from church. They all had posters, which was way fun. Here is Adam's which is super hilarious if you know me very well.

Then came Michelle from the salon with her dog Riley. Just as I was thinking, "Michelle lives around here," there she was. At 24 was Julianne. She had to go to work so she promised she would be on the course. Screw race photos, I have my own personal photog.

Those last 5 sucked. My hips hurt. My butt hurt. I wanted to quit. At one point my Garmin freaked out and told me I was running 6 minute miles which was obvi a lie so it kind of screwed with my distance. I thought I had less than a mile when I realized I had more like a mile and a half. That sucked. But I kept running.. I just kept thinking about how great it would feel to cross the finish. Then I saw Meredith, who ran with me for a few minutes. We ran past a big group of SF girls, it was so amazing to see them cheering me on.

Just past the finish line I saw my mom and Victoria. Throughout all of my training I have waited for that moment to finish and see my mom. I am so grateful she was able to be there for me today!

Today when I entered City Park, I was full of nervousness, doubt, insecurity. But I left that all on Colfax and became a marathoner.

4:10:56

hairy legs

2011-05-11T22:08:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I forget how diverse Colorado is. Have you ever been to Denver? You'd be surprised how many times I've been asked if I moved to Colorado "for the mountains." Before I moved here I thought of Colorado as a place to ski, because we had lots of friends in Texas who headed to Breckenridge every winter. When I stepped off the plane into Denver back in December 2006 to check out the salon, I was surprised to see that the mountains were way off in the distance and the dry brown ground looked a lot like Nebraska or Kansas. I now know that the airport is in the middle of nowhere (might as well be Nebraska or Kansas), and have come to really love the urban feel Denver has.

Since I work in suburbia, but live downtown, I interact with a lot of different types of people. In attempts to taper I have been going to Corepower Yoga to sweat out some toxins and get in some stretching. Yesterday I woke up extra early and headed up the street to the downtown location. This was my first time at this particular studio and as I rushed into class at the last minute (darn downtown parking!), I looked around the room for a few feet where I could put my mat and join in on the "ohms." Somewhere between a thousand downward dogs we were in warrior 2 and I caught the first full preview of the girl next to me. Is that?.. What the?.. Really?.. What makes it okay to color your hair, gage your ears, get tattoos, but you can't freakin shave your legs or armpits? We're not talking a few days overdue, we're talking never. At least wear pants and a shirt that isn't sleeveless. Gross. Thanks for the reminder that Colorado is for hippies.

And while I'm complaining... I had 9 haircuts today. In. A. Row. I got to work at noon and didn't have time to eat or even sit down until 7pm while my last clients highlights processed. My legs sure didn't get a break today so I glad that tomorrow involves a lot more colors that include processing times. I can't believe that the race is so close and am going a little crazy inside. People keep asking me if I am excited which for some reason just makes me cry. I apologize for anyone that has to deal with me between now and Sunday.

Don't applaud, just throw money

2011-04-30T23:28:00.003-06:00

Throughout my marathon training I have had so many people tell me that they are proud of me, or have a lot of respect for me, or just want me to know how much they support me. Recently a rep from a local charity that I think is super awesome asked me if I would run for them for the Colfax Marathon. It's called Denver Metro Partners, and is like a Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization where mentors are paired up with youth in the Denver area. As of right now I am one of three runners for the organization and have raised $155 but my goal is $500. I was able to set my own goal and felt like $500 was attainable because I feel like I have had so many supporters throughout working towards this goal. The minimum donation is $10 and every single penny goes straight to DMP. I feel like this is a great way for people to show their support for me and hope that I can convince a few more people to donate for me!

Check out my website at givingfirst.org/karat for more details.

Respect the Distance

2011-04-22T14:39:00.002-06:00

I took a 20 mile tour of Littleton today. On foot.

Earlier this week I got an email from my client Meredith asking me if I wanted to meet up for my long run. She's doing the Colfax half so she only had 12, but said she could map out my other 8 so I could keep going. In her prime, she ran marathons including the NYC several times. Now that she's got kids and a crazy packed life she runs halves and has a pretty good steady 9:30-10:00ish pace. Because of the kids she asked if I would mind coming over near the salon to meet her. Truth be told, I am very intimidated by running outside for long distances. The treadmill is good to me because it has tvs, water fountains, bathrooms, a place to hold my refuel, and lots of meat heads to distract me. I bit the bullet, drove the 35 minutes through rush hour traffic to suburbia, packed a water belt and some Gu, and made a quick pit stop before she and I took off.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 is by far the best running investment I've ever made, today would have literally been impossible without it. Her husband suggested a loop that he thought was about 11 miles. I'm terrible with direction so I really have no clue where we were most of the time but we can over to Bear Creek Park which is where I did a photoshoot for Edelweiss By Sarah last year, and it is beautiful in the spring. There were some pretty crazy hills and the first one was at mile three and a half. Luckily, at the top there was a bathroom and a cool water stop (with cups!) so we took a quick minute stop before heading through the rest of the park. Poor Meredith is probably only 5'2" so I have a good 9 inches on her and it wasn't really fair to try and tackle the hill side by side. This was the only hill her husband had warned her about, it was by far the worst, but there ended up being several others that were a good challenge. It was kind of cool to see some new parts of Littleton and other than the wind, the weather was perfect. It turned out that the route was a little shorter than we had thought so we looped through her neighborhood til we hit mile 12, then stopped inside so I could refill my water belt.

Meredith had told me if I ran from her house to C470(the highway), it would be exactly 4 miles. Literally right where the sidewalk ended I hit mile 16. It was pretty hilly to run up Belleview and I might have considered stopping to walk but I knew that when I switchbacked I would get to run down all of those hills. It was nice to have the last 4 miles pretty easy. After hitting 20 I felt good and definitely could have kept going. It made me feel a lot more prepared for the race, and feel less bad about missing the 18 from two weeks ago. I can also say that I REALLY enjoyed being outside and will be doing more long runs outside in the beautiful Colorado sunshine. I never in a million years thought I would be able to say that I got up early on my day off to drive 30 minutes to run 20 miles with someone who is old enough to be my mom.

And as a random side note, lots of love to Columbine this week. Yes, we did have a crazy old man at the mall with a bomb that has yet to be identified.. but we're all A-OK. Remembering those lost that day 12 years ago, and all of those who were directly affected throughout our community. <3

Ashley!

2011-04-18T21:14:00.002-06:00

This morning I woke up excited that it was the Boston Marathon. For the first time I understood what it meant to qualify for Boston, knew the names of people expected to win, and had friends who had been working their tails off in preparation for the race. I read about a bazillion running blogs and loved the buzz about the girls that were running today. It's amazing how the running culture is shared through blogging, and I was super excited for these girls that I've never even met. Personally, I had 3 friends running today. My friend Peter who lives in DC not only ran the race, but raised $2,342 for the Boston Living Center. Brady, a friend from Colorado who lives in Utah now. And Ashley. I know I have mentioned her before, so let's introduce you a little more.

This picture is the one and only time Ashley and I have ever been together in normal clothes.

This is how I normally see her:

I met Ashley at the gym in September. She was chatting with my trainer, Joe, and somehow we got introduced. I quickly learned that she was training for the Rock N Roll marathon, I was training for the half. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and had absolutely no idea that she knew EXACTLY what she was doing. She started running next to me and we started chatting, getting to know each other, and becoming friends. She rocked the Rock N Roll in 3:27 and qualified for Boston.

Monday runs have always been pretty miserable for me, but having Ashley there has made it fun. She might run a heck of a lot faster than me, but she is always incredibly encouraging. It's because of her inspiration/encouragement that I decided to sign up for the Colfax Marathon. She has been there to calm my nerves, pump me up, keep me going, and to tell me "get it girl!" I jokingly call her my "Running Coach," but I don't think she realizes that her coaching has been the one thing to keep my from backing out from this race.

The girl never gives up, never compares herself to her crazy amazing running friends (her boyfriend ran the Platte Half in 1:13:05), and always gives it all she's got. She completed the Boston today in 3:22:18 and I couldn't be more proud of her. Next month she will be running miles 13 to 23 with me and the thought of it brings tears to my eyes. Her incredible determination is exactly what I am going to need that day!

high mileage week

2011-04-15T18:18:00.003-06:00

This morning when I woke up my legs felt refreshed and ready to run. I spent Monday on the elliptical and took Tuesday off from working out since I had a class before work. It was only half an hour before my normal start time but I am learning the importance of recovery and am glad that I listened to my body and let my muscles repair. I really wasn't all that sore from Sundays race since it was only 13.1 miles but I did run it at a faster pace than I train at, speed walked 5 more later that day, and my shins took a beating from the concrete trail. My 5 miles on Wednesday were relatively easy but it was nice to wake up today feeling ready to tackle my long run. After already pounding out 23 miles already this week, 10 seemed like a breeze. To think a month or so ago I was stressed to tears before a run that long.

Along with learning to become a better runner, I am also learning how to be the best girlfriend ever. My new relationship seems to be going really well, so I thought I would share with you some of my great gf secrets.

*Spread your time equally between the gym and your boyfriend. I have Fridays off, he goes to work at 3:30. I only spend half of my morning at the gym so that I can spend the other half with him before he goes to work. But maybe decided to do an extra few miles on his birthday and missed going to the Zoo and/or movie in celebration.

*Always be (un)fashionably late.
Text from me at 11:30 today: I should be over by 12:15
Reece:Great! See you soon!
arrival time: 12:35

*Be super low maintenance. Guys don't like when girls spend too much time getting ready, right? Natural product (no hair washing since Wednesday and running 10 mile on it is a great natural texturizer!) and greasy beach waves are hot! I made sure to let him know that I didn't have time to blowdry my hair, but might have forgotten to mention that the wet hair was made by sweat and not freshly washed hair.

*Let your boyfriend rub your tired achy legs for you, but don't shave your legs very often.

*Talk to him all about running, racing, upcoming races, all things running, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah (<---- I am sure this is what he hears).

*Offer to make him dinner but never ask him what he wants. I just assume he likes all of my healthy Paleo food, the way I prepare it, and has no preference when it comes to which healthy Paleo foods we eat together. Especially on his birthday. And on race day when it's time for a cheat, always suggest the food he's allergic too (frozen yogurt).

*Shower him with gifts.
"Sorry I'm late, but I brought you a cookie."
"Sorry I'm not ready yet, but I made you banana bread."
"Sorry I procrastinated my run and now you have to leave for work in an hour, but I brought you some hair gel!."

These my friends, are CLEARLY ways to keep your relationship thriving.

Platte River Half Marathon

2011-04-10T19:55:00.002-06:00

When I came back from Christmas I was excited to hear that my coworker and friend, Stephanie, was signed up for a half marathon as a surprise from her personal trainer. She was less thrilled since she is not a cardio kind of girl, so I told her I would sign up too. I don't like running alongside my friends, but it's fun to have someone to chat with about training, the expo, and be there on race day. Not only was the race only $45, you got 30% off of a pair of Brooks shoes- double score. Since I had already committed to running the Colfax Marathon in May I thought it would be fun to have a race as one of my long runs. It turned out not to be the very best weekend as far as my training schedule was set up, but since I have already completed at least the half distance a good 5 times now, I was feeling confident and excited.

I prepped by eating a little more fruit over the last few days, and added in a little bit of potato and rice yesterday. Dinner at Garbanzo? Yum! I was a little worried about the rain that was forecasted to happen and anxiously awoke to hail in the middle of the night. Thankfully when 6:45 rolled around it was sunny, and today ended up being perfect race weather with the exception of some crazy wind. Going into this race I had two goals. The first, was to finish in under 2 hours.The second, to have fun and enjoy the run. My last half I finished in 2:01. That was in October, I was definitely less trained and conditioned, 10ish pounds heavier, but since I'm marathon training I have been focusing more on endurance than speed. During the drive over I was reading through my Pinterest board trying to get inspired and "in the zone." I like to write quotes, reminders, mantras, etc on my arm to help remind me of why I am doing it. I also like to pick one person for each mile of the race to run for. I was trying to go over my 13 people and I suddenly realized we were on Santa Fe near the Belleview exit. For those of you who don't know, I lost a dear friend in a TERRIBLE car accident right at that spot a few years ago. Goosebumps covered my arm and I knew exactly who I'd be running for(and with) today.I think Reece thought I was a little crazy this morning. He was such a trooper. He worked til 3:00 this morning, picked up my race packet yesterday, took me to the race, took pictures, cheered me on at the finish line, and ate Yogurtland with me even though he's lactose intolerant.

I was able to get a pretty good spot right at the front of the 9:00minute mile pace line. That was my goal, just stay under 9:00/mile. I bumped into my client Mike, and his wife Jackie, who I apparently talked into signing up for the race. Her goal was the same as mine and he was determined to beat me (which he did, by 4 minutes). I splurged and bought a Garmin Forerunner last week and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I set it to beep at my if I got under that pace and was happy it really only beeped during narrow entryways, and when I was grabbing water. I started out strong and stayed strong for the first half. So strong that I was able to slow down a lit bit for the second half. At mile 10 I realized that even if I ran 10 minute miles I would finish within my goal. What a great feeling. I soared through the next 2 miles and in the last mile was faced with one very steep hill. Wow, what a climb. Not a whole lot can make my calves hurt, but they burned as I trudged up this ridiculous hill. I was planning to run my last mile fastest of all, but this killed me and slowed me down during and after.

My official race time was 1:54- an 8 minute PR! I know I've only ran one half marathon but it was a PR nonetheless, and was a full 2 minutes faster than I've ever hit the 13.1 distance in my training. I can honestly say that I had tons of fun at the race and am so glad I decided to do it. Stephanie ended up finishing in 2:30 and Sarah (also from work) finished in 2:10. It was both of their first half marathons and I was so impressed with both of them. Kelsey, Lindsay, and Kim from the salon came to cheer us on and it was great to see them at the end. To my surprise, Ashley also ended up at the race because her boyfriend, Matt, decided last minute to run it. He finished in 1:13, and took second place. Typical Matt. I am so grateful to have so many people in my life supporting me and cheering me on through this crazy journey I have been on for the last couple of years. I can't believe that I went from getting winded walking a mile, to running a 5k in 42 minutes to running 13 8:45/miles! Colfax is in 5 weeks and I am feeling refreshed and ready to tackle that crazy distance!

Pinterested

2011-04-08T19:24:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago at church, my friend Valerie mentioned a website she likes called Pinterest. The next day I happened to come across it and have been glued to it ever since. It's more or less a virtual dream board, where you can hoard images under any particular topic. You could make a board of stuff that you want, hairstyles you like, wedding ideas, ANYTHING. You can follow your friends, or choose to follow people whose boards you like. You can create your own pins or re-pin other peoples. It's seriously addicting. So far I have only created one board, a collaboration of quotes and images that inspire me to run, work out, push harder. I keep a running journal and already have a bazillion quotes scribbled into the front of it, but this is definitely more fun. I love finding something that inspires me. When I am running I have am repeating a lot of these to myself over and over. Check out my board at pinterest.com/misskarat

Who else has a board?

Tape-ring

2011-04-06T21:01:00.002-06:00

Everyone's been blogging about tapering, with less than 2 weeks til Boston. I figured I should taper too:

Oh wait, tapering doesn't include actual tape? Oops. My bad. I earned myself a mighty big blister last weekend from my street shoes, and a bandaid plus packing tape were the closest thing I had to moleskin or blisterguard. Luckily since I'm a mid striker, it doesn't really affect my running but my work shoe choices have been limited. It is *kind of* a taper week for me with the half on Sunday but really I'm just having a taper day on Friday. Since my marathon is more important to me than this half, I'm trying not to compromise my training too much.

Today was my last real run for the week and I loved every minute of it. I am actually getting really excited for Sunday! Maria was in today so we had nerdy Paleo carb loading talk and I am feeling really prepared. She also gave me permission to eat frozen yogurt after the race. Yogurtland, here I come!

Have I Done Any Good?

2011-04-03T18:56:00.002-06:00

Not to steal a line from one of my favorite hymns.. but I am pretty sure the message of SERVICE was loud and clear in today's General Conference. This morning as I set out on my very windy run, I tried to clear my head to soak in the good word and messages I'd be hearing today. My mind wandered off onto a blog post I read over at Rust Belt Runner. Her local radio station has started a movement called The Drive Through Difference. The idea more or less is to do selfless acts of service in little ways like paying for the person behind you in the drive through, and encouraging that person to pass on the good deeds. As I fought the wind this morning I tried to think of little ways I could create opportunities to do this. After watching conference today I will definitely be looking for extra ways I can serve others.

With only one week til the Platte River Half Marathon , I am crossing my fingers for good weather. It was 82 degrees here in Denver yesterday, and 68 at 7:30 this morning when I laced up my shoes and headed out for a run. By 1:00 today it was cold and rainy, and by 2:00 it was snowing. I'm not really sure what tricks Mother Nature has up her sleeve, but this is really not funny.

I have been a little bit stressed out about the race, but am trying to be excited. I have set myself a time goal and have been training hard to be able to attain it. I know that my body is conditioned to complete it even faster than my goal, but sometimes the negativity takes control and I get nervous that I won't be able to push myself hard enough. After having terrible 16 last week I was unsure of how to go about my schedule and include tapering at the same time. Fridays run was scheduled to be 10 miles, and next Friday is supposed to be 18. Since I'm doing 13.1 on Sunday it is clear that 18 on Friday is not an option. I am still unsure of if I will be able to make up the 18 (considering running 5 more after the race), but I decided to do 13.1 on Friday within my goal time to remove all doubt of if I am capable of my goal. I put my playlist together, fueled up, brought appropriate refuel (honey stix, coconut juice, and a Lara Bar cut up), and ran with purpose. I'm feeling pretty confident, but now just have to work out the logistics- where to park, how to get my packet, what to wear, etc.

One thing I am really excited about is having people there. When I ran the Rock N Roll in October, I went it alone. My friend Nic dropped me off but didn't make to back to the park before I finished. As excited as it was just to finish, it was a little anti climatic to cross the line and then hang out waiting for my ride. For this race, Sarah and Steph from work are also running the race. Hopefully we will have a few of the salon girls there to cheer us on, and Reece promised to come watch me finish as well. Regardless of the outcome I need to remember that I am doing it for fun and to ENJOY all 13.1 miles.

workout this week:
ran 5 miles/abs
ran 6 miles/arms/chest/back
stair climber for 60 minutes
ran 5 miles/shoulders/abs
30 min elliptical/1 hour zen strength class (btw, I found out this is a lot of Vinyasa Yoga)
ran 13.1 miles/abs
rest

Does anyone have any specific examples of little acts of service they have performed? Or have been done to them? What songs would you suggest I add to my 13.1 playlist? What mantras work for you when you're giving yourself a pep talk?

I will.

2011-03-28T20:38:00.003-06:00

I've said all along that if I follow my marathon training plan, the marathon will be work but it won't kill me. I am starting to think that I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Friday I ran 16 miles. By mile eleven I was ready to quit. I stopped for about 30 seconds after every mile for those last five. It was torture. I felt sick. I was hungry. My legs hurt. My toes were numb. But I pushed through and pounded it out. It took be 2:26, which is slower than I wanted, but nonetheless I got the job done. Mentally it is frustrating because I know how hard I struggled, and the marathon in 10.2 miles longer than that. I have my work cut out for me, but I am up for the challenge.

One of the things that has helped me the most is having mantras, songs, quotes, etc to repeat to myself when it gets hard. Luckily Friday morning Under Armour posted this video and I repeated to myself over and over "I will."

The good thing about having a bad run is that I get to learn from it. I am learning a lot about food and how to fuel my body for what I put it through. One thing that I know is that I haven't been eating enough fruit. I've been trying to shy away from it since I still want to take off a little weight, but now I know that my body needs the glucose so that I have glycogen stored in my muscles for endurance runs. I also know that I need to eat A LOT during, and after a run. Part of what set me back was that I only refueled with some coconut water and one packet of Gu. I also know now that I need to stay away from Gu. My next run will be with honey sticks and raisins or Lara Bars, which is much better for my body.

Because I spend a lot of time at the gym there are a lot people that I "know." Some I chat with, some I compliment when I can see that their hard work is paying off, some I like to stair at, and some I avoid (like that stupid wench who tells me my headphones are too loud). Recently I have noticed a growing trend that is ridiculous. Apparently, people think it's okay to COLOR THEIR HAIR IN THE LOCKER ROOM. Seriously? Just because someone doesn't want to make a mess in their own home does not mean they should have the opportunity to make a mess at the gym. It's almost as gross as the lady who uses a foot file on the bench by the lockers. Do people not have manners?

Scout, trends, and tunes

2011-03-18T20:48:00.002-06:00

Fortunately while I was in Utah, Erica and her kids were there too. Since Erica is a stay at home mom she has a little more flexibility and was able make it out there a whole week before me and stay a day later. Harper (who I like to call Scout) asked several times a day "want to play? go play?" She takes turns asking every member of the family and does not discriminate towards anyone. One of her favorite playmates is my parents dog, Rocko. He generally tolerates with her hugging on him, pulling at him, and sneaking in his room to play with him. Unfortunately it was too much to handle last Tuesday and he bit the poor thing in the face. She had to have stitches in her nose and her lip and spent 5 hours at Primary Childrens before heading back to LA. Erica said she was super brave at the hospital. Please remember the cute little munchkin in your prayers as she heals.

I was thinking about it today, and I AM a hair and make-up artist, so maybe I should blog a little more about that? My clients come to me for beauty advice so I must be doing something right some of the time. You can also check out the salons website (salonfoushee.com) for the beauty tips section from all of the lovely SF ladies.

Here are some trends I am loving right now:

Feather Extensions

These started as kind of Boulder/hippie trend but have been spreading like wildfire. I spied a few people in Utah with them, but I do believe that Colorado is doing them better. A single bundle of multiple feathers like JLH has is what's hot. Not big clumpy ones, or 6 different single strands throughout the hair. The bundle I have in my bright red hair has a couple of striped ones, but several solid bright colors as well. It's a fun way to temporarily spice up your look without color commitment. What's also great about them is that they can be washed, blowdryed, smoothed, curled, etc. I even did a Brazilian Blowout with mine in.

Nail Polish

This particular look is on the darker side, but it's so popular that it's nearly impossible to find. It's part of the Katy Parry collection and it's so fun. You paint the Black Shatter over whichever color of nail polish you want and it crackles. Very unique and fun. Also for spring and summer we're seeing lots of BRIGHT colors.

Make-Up
If you had asked me any time in the last 6 months what's in trend of make-up, I would say "a flawless face." It's true, and it's still true. However, we're also seeing some super bright colors. To sum it up for spring I would say metallic eyes, bold bright liner, and thick brows. A lot of people overlook their eyebrows but they frame the face, accentuate the eye, and should not be forgotten. I personally use a soft shadow (MAC Texture on myself) with a thicker angled brush. It can be done more dramatic when my make-up is darker, or lightly for days that I'm not wearing much. They also make brow gels, pencils, waxes, or Benefit makes a wax/powder combo that is incredible. For blondes and lighter brunettes I love Omega from MAC.

Clothes
This is not my expertise. When I do laundry everything is gym clothes, socks/underwear/, or black. Today I had 1 colored shirt in my laundry. I apparently need to go shopping because guess what's in style for spring for clothes? Color. Of course. It's popping up everywhere. Citrus hues are big again this year. But really, big chunky bright bangles, bright mismatched patterns, bright this, bright that, I guess it's time for me to branch out. We're also seeing one piece swimsuits, scarves, stripes, long skirts, tassles, bell bottoms (retro everything), biker gear, crocheted clothing, and sheer fabrics. I might redirect you to lookbook.nu or tandsdaybook.blogspot.com for more some people with a little more fashion sense than me.

After a week of working out with crappy headphones and an old ipod shuffle, I broke down and rebought what I had before. What can I say, I am a creature of habit. I love my Nike Vapor headphones because the sound is clear, they're extremely comfortable, and they stay in my ears. Some models have a cord that splits in the middle in case you're working out with an arm band. Brilliant. The ones I love are a little sturdier and can handle all of my sweat, so they are worth the extra money. I also decided to stick to the 5th generation nano because I like the click wheel and the video. I can't use my sweaty finger on a touch screen! I don't know what they were thinking. Lucky for me, the Apple refurbished site had an 8gb for $99. Now I am back to square one on my playlist. I like to keep one long running "running" playlist that I can put on shuffle. Does anyone have any suggestions of some great tunes? Great music is imperative for a good run.

this week:
walked 3ish miles with Kelly
ran 3.5
ran 5
ran 6
elliptical for 30 minutes/1 hour Zen Strength
ran 8 miles/abs
rest

Today's 8 seemed pretty easy after last weeks 14. My original plan today was wake up, get my emissions done, run 8 miles, home and shower and be ready by 11:30 to meet Reece for the Zoo or a movie to celebrate his birthday. I got to the emissions place a little late, waiting for 45 minutes, and then they informed me that there was some piece of paper that was covering my VIN number and that I had to leave. Ugh. I spent 10 minutes in my car trying to shove papers/cd jackets/anything to move it out of the way. And then, I discovered a fork. Fantastic. I got it moved, then rewaited in line and got it taken care of. I didn't even finish my run until after noon and he had to work at 4:00 so the zoo/movie plan didn't happen. Instead we walked over to City Park (my favorite!!) and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and Colorado 65 degree weather. After he left I still had to go to the DMV but it was less painful and my registration is taken care of until next March. Phew.

Utah

2011-03-15T22:41:00.003-06:00

This last weekend I headed to Salt Lake to see Chase along with the rest of the fam. The best thing about the flight to SLC is that it's usually only about 45 minutes. If you're smart like I am, you'll book a flight at the crack of dawn and sleep through the entire time. I was excited that Chase volunteered to pick me up from the airport. After I got in I headed to the eye doc for a new pack of contacts and new pair of glasses. I got the privilege of having my eyes dilated which led to some confusing text messages and a super fun drive in paper sunglasses. Friday night we all went out to The Pizza Factory for some grub and I enjoyed a delicious salad bar. I should have just had pizza and breadsticks because my eating was shortly derailed completely leading to ridiculous amounts of cookie and brownie consumption instead of the asparagus and broccoli my mom bought for me. Oops. Moving forward.

Hailey and I at dinner

Greg and Gavin:

Saturday I decided to pay the $10 fee to work out at Gold's Gym for my long run. I wasn't familiar enough with the area to map out my own. More than anything I was nervous about running this far of a distance in such a hilly area. So I hit the treadmill and busted out 14 miles. I'm pretty sure the guy next to me during the second half of it (machines shut off at 60 minutes) thought I was a little off, seeing as at mile 2 (which was really mile 9) I was dripping in sweat and downing a packet of Gu. My final time was 2:06, which is good enough for me. I'm hoping to shave off a little bit more per mile before my half, but I'm not too concerned. I must have been a little disoriented afterward because I left my ipod and favorite headphones on the treadmill and didn't realize it until Monday morning. When I called they didn't have it. Darn. I also got to have lunch with my bff Dave, trial run Sam's hair and make-up for her June wedding, and attend an engagement party for my cousin Allia. She is a traditional Muslim (my family is so diverse), and is following the customs for her engagement. It was fun to spend time with her and her sisters, I am really excited for her.

Sunday Chase spoke in church and then everyone came over to my parents to visit and eat(what we do in Mormon culture). It's nice when I make a non holiday visit and still get to see my grandparents/aunts and uncles/cousins. Two of my friends from highschool, Erik and Chad and their wives, came over too. It was fun to catch up with everyone and hear Chase talk about his mission. Here's a picture of us after church

my mom with Jonah

Harper eating her cake

That evening after everyone left, Kelly and I went for a "run." It was mostly a walk with a few pick ups. It felt good on my legs but Kelly isn't really a runner and I was just feeling sick/guilty for eating 785468 treats.

Monday morning I woke up and discovered my missing ipod. Devo. I borrowed Carly's and listened to some Jimmy Eat World while I made a quick loop through the neighborhood. It was just a little over 3 1/2 miles but I wanted to get home so I could go shopping with Erica and her kids. First we went to Costco, then to Fashion Place mall. Chase texted and asked if we wanted to meet for lunch which turned into him also bringing Carly and Kelly. It was fun to hang out with the sibs without even being told. Erica snapped this picture on her iphone and I am loving that we all color coordinate. Maybe we're more alike than we think:

workout
ran 5 miles/
ran6 miles/strength training/15 on elliptical
stair climber 60 minutes level 9
ran 5 miles/shoulders/back
stair climber 60 minutes level 9/full body strengthening
rest
ran 14 miles/abs

p.s. I wish I had my own hot tub.. It's even better than a foam roller!

2011-03-04T17:23:00.002-07:00

My heart is full of love and gratitude today for my little (not so little) brother Chase. Today he returned home from serving a two year mission for our church in San Antonio, Texas. I am impressed with his dedication and service, and am thankful for the blessings our family has received in the two years that he has been gone. Next weekend I am heading to Salt Lake to spend the weekend with my family. I can't wait to see my nieces nephews/brothers/sisters/parents/friends/ and see Chase again. Here is a couple of pictures of us together before his mission. The first one was I think in 2006, and the second was taken the day of his farewell talk at church.

Going into this week I knew my schedule was going to be different than normal. I headed up to Boulder on Monday evening to see one of my favorite artists, Joshua Radin. I just saw him in November and the set was almost the same as last time, but it was still an amazing time. Laura Jansen and Cary Brothers opened for him and they were both fantastic. Here's a picture of Julianne and I at the show.

Because of the concert and having a meeting on Wednesday I knew my running schedule was going to have to get rearranged. Since I ran 12 on Friday I didn't know how my Sunday morning run would go. I was scheduled 4 on Sunday, 6 on Tuesday, and 5 on Wednesday. Sunday morning I started out hoping to complete 6 but was worried that my legs would be too fatigued from Friday. Luckily they felt great and I knocked out my 6. Tuesday I did my 5, and Wednesday I did 4. It's been a while since I've ran three days in a row, and I could feel it. Fortunately I rested Wednesday and cross trained Thursday. Today the goal was 7 and not only was it easy, it felt great. I am starting to really love running. My next race (Platte Half) is in 5 weeks and I am getting really excited. My goal is sub 2hrs, and I am on track to reach that goal.

ran 6 miles/arms/abs

ran 5 miles

ran 4 miles/abs/chest/back

rest

elliptical 30 minutes/1 hr zen strength class

ran 7 miles

I also started a running journal via recommendation of some of my running mentors. It gives me the chance to record my work outs, and how I felt emotionally and physically about each run. Hopefully I will be able to learn from challenges, learn more about my body and mind, and make sure I am fueling before and after correctly. So far all I have in it is a bunch of quotes that I find motivating, just in case I need a little pep talk or a reminder of why I'm doing what I do.

No Excuses

2011-02-27T17:34:00.004-07:00

Next time you start making excuses, remember this:

Last year I got to work with some very talented ladies on a photoshoot for Edelweiss by Sarah. Because NYC was extra frigid when Sarah needed to shoot her collection, she came to Colorado, which was much more fitting for the look of that collection. When I had gone to New York to visit Julianne I met Sarah, who lives and works in Brooklyn. When she decided to bring her collection here, she asked me to work hair and make-up for this shoot. If you haven't seen the pictures you can check out her website for all of the photos here: http://edelweissbysarah.com/fall10.htm

I was also lucky enough to get the gig for a line she did for Shabby Apple. Now, she is giving away one of her incredible dresses on The Daybook. Check out http://tandsdaybook.blogspot.com/ to enter!

fill in the blank

2011-02-25T16:34:00.002-07:00

I saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun.

1. I am currently obsessed with macadamia nuts and bananas. Sometimes eaten together. I think the nuts might be coated in crack.

2. Today I am annoyed because my toes took a beating during my run. Poor things are blistered and I keep knocking them on things.

3. The age I am is 24 and the age I feel is 20, the same age I was when I moved to Colorado. Sometimes I forget that I'm still aging. And then again, sometimes I feel like an old person with aches and pains + turning down plans to sleep.

4. My favorite place is Costco. There's nothing that you can't find there. I go 1-2 times a week and stock up on spinach, broccoli, rotisserie chicken, turkey breast, organic meat, baked apple chips, almond butter, or whatever my little heart desires.

5. Something I have been procrastinating is refolding the clothes on the shelf in my closet. I'm going to tackle that one today. After I catch up on my blog reading.

6. The last thing I purchased was some workout shirts from TJ Maxx. That place is dangerous.

7. The thing I love most about my home is that it's the perfect size of a city. Denver is big enough to have awesome concerts, cool restaurants/stores, but small enough to have it's own charm. I can drive across the city in like 10 minutes, yet still get lost if I try a different route. I love the people, the culture, and the scenery.

Part of why I posted this is because I had a pretty boring week. Got to the gym late on Monday, was thrilled that Ashley spent Presidents Day skiing and decided to come to get her run on a little later in the evening too. It's nice to have a friend to encourage me, and to help pass the time. Wednesday I did a "speed workout" which was more of a "I don't want to do this so I'll bust it out as quick as possible so I can be done" workout. That made for sore legs on Thursday. I've been doing this Zen Strength class on Thursdays that I have decided I like. It's kind of zumba/pilates/kickboxing/a bunch of old ladies dancing around. After I changed my running schedule I decided it was worth checking out. It's done with 3 pound weights, and your arms are up for long periods of time. It makes my shoulders burn! But more than anything I feel like it helps me stretch my hip flexors and gets me moving in a different way than I would on my own. Best of all, my legs still feel good on Friday.

Speaking of, I ended up getting out of bed a little later today and didn't have a whole lot of time to procrastinate my run. I fixed breakfast, stretched, prepared my Lara Bar/coconut juice, and headed to the gym. I had considered running at Highline today, but it was like 22 degrees at 11:30 when I finally made it out the door. Thankfully, I didn't have too much time to stew about it beforehand but still had major butterflies. I put some new songs into my running playlist this morning and was pretty excited to take on the challenge of 12 miles. I ended up adding another 1.1 at the end walking uphill, just so I could reach a half marathon distance. Even with adding that I finished in under 2 hours which is my goal for the Platte. It feels good to know I'm on track!

ran 4.5 miles, arms, chest, back
ran 6 miles, arms, 10 on elliptical
stair climber @ level 10 for 30 minutes, elliptical for 30
ran 4.5 miles, arms, abs
30 minutes elliptical, abs, Zen Strength
ran 12 miles, arms, chest, back, abs, elliptical for 15 minutes

Super excited for this coming week! Joshua Radin on Monday, Chase comes home on Friday!!!!!!!!!!

4 years ago...

2011-02-18T16:41:00.002-07:00

This weekend marks my four year anniversary in Denver. I quit my job(s), packed up my Honda, best friend riding shotgun, and drove to Denver in search of an adventure. It's been an adventure to say the least. At the time, I was looking for a fresh start, and a place to call home. Since I have been here I have fallen in love with this beautiful city, met incredible people, and most importantly- evolved into a person that I am proud to be. I am truly blessed to be working in a career that I am passionate about, surrounded by incredible inspiring people, in a city that has so much to offer. Moving to Denver at 20 years old probably was not the most well thought out decision I've ever made, but it is by far one of the best decisions I've ever made.

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
-John Bingham, running speaker and writer

I had kind of a tough time in the gym this week. Well, more like a tough week in my head. It's all in the head, right? I have noticed on a lot of the running blogs that I follow that I am definitely not the only one getting the work out blues. I guess we all have those days, especially in the middle of winter. I had one of my worst runs on Monday and it plagued me all week. My Wednesday run went well, but I was dreading my long run yesterday. Up on the docket was 10 miles. That's a lot for me. I've only ran that distance probably...3 times? Daunting. I think what gets me down is that I'm worried if I can't tackle one of my longer runs, I won't be able to tackle my marathon which is still 3 months away. Ridiculous thinking, but that's how crazy my thoughts are. My drive over to the gym I had a lot on my mind. Something had happened earlier in the morning that kind of had me upset. I was trying to talk myself through it when I bumped into my friend Hannah (a trainer) in the locker room. She had barely said hi to me and I already had tears rolling down my face. It took a few minutes of pep talking, and I think I got all of my nerves out. I decided to slow down my pace a little, so that I didn't wear out too quickly. It turned out being a great run, I ran out my jitters, my frustrations, and still feel good today.

Also, I have decided to eat as Paleo as possible through my training. Usually I need Gu/shot blocks/some sort of fuel around mile 7 or 8. Yesterday I brought Coconut Juice and cut up an Apple Pie Lara Bar into bite size chunks. This older guy jumped on the treadmill next to me and saw me getting my treats into place. He turned to me and said, "Did you bring lunch?"

this weeks workout:
4.5 miles ran/abs/shoulders
6 miles ran/arms/chest/back
45 minute walk through my neighborhood
4.5 miles ran/arms
30 minutes elliptical/zen strength class
10 miles ran/arms/chest/back/some legs/30 minutes elliptical
rest (much needed!)

Paleo Valentine

2011-02-11T22:38:00.003-07:00

Valentine's Day came early for me when I got this little treat at work on Wednesday. I was oh so excited to see my client, Maria, and update her on my paleo success. She's a 10 weeker, so I hadn't seen here since I read The Paleo Solution, and she didn't know that I had committed to the lifestyle. Nonetheless, she showed up with this bag of goodies for me, and I couldn't have been more giddy. Inside was a batch of a home baked nut mix and sugar free "dessert" gum. I am so lucky to have such great clients! Especially ones that care about my health.

There is nothing I love more than finishing a workout and having my shirt look like this"

There's something about dripping in sweat that makes me feel accomplished. I don't end up sweaty like this from the elliptical, that's for sure. Here was my schedule for the week:

4.5 miles ran, abs

6 miles ran, 15 minutes on the stair climber, 30 minutes on the elliptical, upper body strength training (this was workout night with Ashley)

elliptical for 45, legs, lots of extra stretching

4.5 miles ran, upper body, abs

60 minutes on elliptical (2 different ones)

6 miles ran, 15 minutes on elliptical, upper body, abs

Monday I was feeling really discouraged. Last Friday was an 8 and I was still feeling it after my rest day. When I got to the gym Monday night I was achy and tired. 20 minutes into my run Ashley showed up and changed my whole attitude. She and I chatted while I finished up my last 3 1/2 miles and it was a breeze. We finished catching up while we did the stair climber (brutal!), and some strength training. It was the exact pick me up I needed. I realized by Wednesday afternoon that I had been sick since the weekend. I wasn't necessarily achy from the gym, just from being sick. I am feeling much better now and today's run was a piece of cake. I also got a new pair of my favorite shoes (Brooks Adrenaline) and found out they come in wide! I am going to start rotating them in and hopefully will end up with a few less blisters. Excited that week 4 is out of the way!

As a side note, I saw No Strings Attached tonight. A few weeks ago a guy friend recommended I see it and he said, "it has a really great message." I kind of laughed and asked him what the message was. He responded with, "that love isn't convenient." He was right. The movie was good, and the message was loud and clear. Although I definitely don't practice in "no strings attached" sex, I felt very connected to the main character. I'm not going to go into the details of the movie, or the details of my dating life.. but I think it was a good reminder that sometimes you have to take a risk, even if that risk involves getting hurt.

Has anyone else seen any good movies lately? Anything exciting planned for Valentine's day?

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

2011-02-04T19:50:00.002-07:00

My mom gave me a "Quoteables" journal a few years back, and I have loved their stuff ever since. They sell magnets and cards at Whole Foods and Papyrus in the mall, and I always stop to browse. This quote, is one that recently caught my eye so I snagged a card and hung it in my room. Every day, I try and get out of my comfort zone. For those of you who know me well and know about my rituals and routines (OCD much?), know that this isn't always easy for me to do. I live a pretty redundant life. I like that I wake up naturally at 7:13 every day. I like that I always run on treadmill #20. I like sitting in the back pew at church on the left hand side. I try not to let my OCD get in the way of my every day life. I have recently realized that I would rather be in control than be controlled, and I don't really think that's a completely healthy way of thinking. This is why I push myself into the uncontrollable unknown from time to time. Sometimes it's small, sometimes it's big. Sometimes it's scary, and sometimes it's exciting.

For me, running is scary. I get nervous, I doubt myself, I make the whole thing a big mental roadblock. When I started running I could run for 30 seconds at a time, then I would have to walk. It was frustrating and intimidating. I worked up to 5 minutes at a time, then 15, then 30.. Somewhere between run/walking a 5k Thanksgiving 2009 and now, I have challenged my mind and body to push past comfort and go a little further. I notched down my mileage after my half marathon, and 6 miles has became my comfortable cap. Thanks to my marathon training program I have no exceeded that mileage twice. I spent my morning eating the worlds slowest breakfast, stretching, procrastinating, and dreading my run. But I got there, didn't think of quitting or not doing it as an option, and ran my 8 miles.

Week 3: complete

Paleo update

2011-01-31T21:14:00.002-07:00

I have been thinking about what I would write for this post all month now. I wasn't rehearsing what I might say, but was excited to know what information I would have to report. I challenged myself at the beginning of the year to eat Paleo for 90 days. I first heard of Paleo from my first Colorado trainer, Matt. Matt was awesome at kicking my butt, but eventually he left to start his own Crossfit gym. It is a little out of the way for me to go to, so I stick to Bally's but I did make it over for a few grueling Crossfit workouts. During one of our sessions Matt told me about a book called The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. I blew him off, I had my own plan. He persisted for a little while, but I was headstrong on my own ways.

Fast forward to fall of 2010. I was down 40 pounds for the year but struggling to get weight off around my midsection. 40 pounds was only one pant size. I was frustrated, tried changing up my diet, even trained for and ran a half marathon and the tummy wouldn't budge. Meanwhile one of my favorite clients, Laurie, started dating a guy named Steve who is a competitive Crossfitter. He runs a blog, stevepaleo.blogspot.com, so I set to check out her now hottie boyfriend. You should check him out too, he's nearly 50 and FIT. But oh, that darn Paleo again! She started eating this way and raved about the delicious food. Then there was my client Maria. The first time I did her hair, she had just come from a Crossfit workout. We chatted about Crossfit and then she asked me if I ate "Paleo." I got a little curious and asked her a few questions. It's a higher fat diet, it eliminates grains and dairy, and really anything that's processed. During one visit I asked her what her doctor had to say and she informed me that she is a doctor herself! 3 against 1, I toyed with the idea until Maria told me straight about a patient that was prediabetic, held weight around her middle, and the prescription Maria gave her was to read and live The Paleo Solution. Her next visit she was no longer in the diabetes danger zone, and while she hadn't really lost weight, she was down 4 dress sizes! I was sold, and bought the book that day.

I read the book, took in way too much information, but figured out what I needed to do to adapt the lifestyle. Robb informs you that it is good to know why you're doing it, but to give it at least 30 days and see how you feel. I was up for the challenge and decided that I would shoot for 3 full months. I was nervous about my ravenous sugar cravings, my love for cottage cheese, and my obsession with baking. So I baked myself silly, ate 38445 pieces of fudge at Christmas, and got rid of anything in my cupboards that might tempt me. So here we are, the very end of January. I did everything Robb told me to do. I even delved into reading Paleo for Athletes so I could learn how to boost my athletic performance.

Things I hate about diets: I am hungry, grumpy, moody, frustrated, CRAVE sugar (mostly cake for some weird reason), tired, upset, feel overwhelmed, and am looking for any excuse to call it a fail and get out of it.

Things I LOVE about the Paleo lifestyle: I am never hungry, everything is delicious, I have TONS of energy, I run faster, I recover faster, my skin is glowing, my eyes are whiter, I sleep better, and most of all- I dropped an entire size. My clothes are literally falling off of me.

Eating Paleo is THE EASIEST thing I have ever done. I never knew that I could feel so free from food. Although the diet is pretty restrictive (Fruits, vegetables, protein, nuts), I love that I can go to the produce section and pick out anything I want. I am learning new ways to cook, trying new vegetables, and learning that everything tastes better when you don't dull your taste buds with processed garbage. It takes a little more planning and preparation and even costs a little bit more money, but it is worth every minute and every penny. I am so excited to continue to eat Paleo, and know that it will help me DOMINATE my marathon in May!

Leaps and Bounds

2011-01-28T16:47:00.003-07:00

I have dedicated 2011 to be a better version on myself. Something I've realized is that even though I can make the decision to be better, I also have to make some changes. Last weekend I made some pretty deep realizations about myself. Sometimes getting into that deep dark stuff that lies beneath is not very fun. I hate feeling vulnerable, and exposing all that crud (even to myself), was exactly what I made myself do. So I reached down deep and figured out where I needed to make some changes. Big change/accomplishment number one, I took my nose ring out. For good. Because I am choosing to be as obedient as I darn well possibly can.

Big change number two, I am no longer eating my feelings. Happy/sad/bored/excited/deserving/lonely/afraid/empowered.. just a few of the reasons I normally eat. I will update on how the Paleo is going after I've completed my first month. But I for once feel in control of food, instead of feeling like it controls me. Last week I dug out a pair of dusty skinny jeans in a size 10 that I over ambitiously purchased over the summer. They zip, they button, and I can still breathe.

And last but not least, I got a promotion at work. I have moved up to Element 3! This means that I am busy enough that I get to raise my prices. For existing clients, each service goes up $5. For new clients, each service goes up $10. This should help me have a busier schedule, and make more money. I've been working towards this for awhile now, so I couldn't be more excited!

I'll expound more on this with my Paleo post, but I have to tell you that this week I finally felt like a runner. Yes, after 4 races, countless miles (I'm counting them this year), 8 pairs of $100+ shoes, and 8 million ipod playlists, I feel like I can call myself a runner. I finished week 2/17 on my marathon training today by wrapping up my week with a 7 mile run. 7 miles in just under 65 minutes, and I didn't even try to make any excuses in my head of why I should stop. Woo!

Enjoying Wednesdays

2011-01-19T21:18:00.002-07:00

“For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. Happiness is a journey, not a destination.” Souza

I think most people look forward to weekends. Relaxing, time with family or friends, sleeping in, movies, concerts, etc. For me, I love Saturdays. Although it's a day packed full of work, it usually leads to getting dressed up, letting loose with friends, and no curfew. Sundays I get to recover, go to church, be pretty lazy, and get to bed early to face a grueling new week. Until now.

Monday I started my marathon training. 17 weeks of running 3 weekdays and a long run on Saturdays after work. There's plenty of other cardio, strength training, and yoga in there too. No more staying out late with friends, after work trips to Hacienda, or skimping on sleep. I have been thinking about this a lot lately, realizing that I am sacrificing my social life to work towards a goal. I realize that I will be missing out on birthday celebrations, dating, and eating out. And I think I'm okay with that. In the past when I have "gone on a diet," I couldn't wait for it to end. I'd count down the days til the weekend, til the end of the month, or whenever my release from food hell would be. But in this last year I have adapted healthy habits and enjoy eating a clean diet. I also really enjoy running most of the time. The rush of accomplishing something that I would have once thought impossible is worth the achy joints and nights staying in. While some days seem to drag, or be stressful, they are all part of my life. I can wish for the weekend, or May 15th, or summer... but all while I am wishing I am going to skip over enjoying the little accomplishments.

karat2.011

2011-01-11T21:05:00.005-07:00

I am fortunate to work in a career that I am passionate about with an amazing group of women. While I am able to pick what I do, and where I choose to work, I don't always to get to choose who I work on. There's the clients who are always late, the ones who cancel two minutes after their appointment was supposed to start, have gobs of unruly hair, still style their hair like they're in the 80's no matter what I do to it, the ones that make unreasonable requests (while I can make your hair look like Jessica Biel's, the body and face are not included), or the ones that downright just aren't people I would normally choose to spend time with. Luckily, the good ones far outweigh the bad. I have found an overwhelming amount of support and encouragement from many of my clients. My experiences with these clients remind me why I do what I do.

Last week, one specific client came in with a brilliant idea. I'm not talking a picture of Scarlet Jo's new bob, or a fiery new color, but an idea that I have been thinking about since she was in. As we were talking about the new year and our new years resolution, she explained that she was going to become a new and improved, or 2.0, version of herself. Not different, not so far out of her element, but give 110% and get the most out of everything she does. I loved the concept and have been thinking of ways to create kara t 2.011 in 2011.

I love New Years Resolutions. Don't you? I am the master of goal setting/goal accomplishing. It could be my stubborn nature, or my ridiculous strong will, but while I don't consider myself competitive- I love a good challenge if it is against myself. I try to put myself out of my element every day, always progressing, evolving, improving, and learning. I love that the quote that says, "Life isn't about finding yourself, but creating yourself."

In 2011, I hope to create a better Kara T. I refuse to declare anything as "the best ever," but always as "the best yet." 2010 for me was a revolutionary year. Because of the hard work I put in, I was able to accomplish goals that even five years ago seemed completely out of reach. As I have entered this year I know that I am a stronger, more confident person and ready to tackle a lot of different areas of my life.

In 2011, I want to do things I have never done before. So far I have gone to my first Avalanche game and tried hot yoga (loved it). Not bad for two weeks in. I am also hoping to go to Europe, or at least travel somewhere I have never been. Of course my my biggest challenge is to run the marathon in May. If you could do something new this year, what would it be?

While I tend to be extremely OCD in some areas of my life, I am pretty messy. I like a clean kitchen. I don't really leave a whole lot out around the apartment, but during the week I tend to collect piles of clothes and "stuff" around my room leaving me a weekend of cleaning. I have realized that the biggest problem is that I have too much stuff. I house sat for one of my clients a few months ago, and was impressed with how immaculate her house was. I observed it was because they had no clutter, because there was nothing to be clutter. Not only do I was to get organized, I want to simplify my life. I feel like if I can let go of a lot of my "stuff," I can learn that to live with fewer "things." Until I have a house of my own, I don't really have use for a lot of the things that tend to collect in my closet.

In addition: I want to improve some relationships I have with friends, be a better listener, eat cleaner (so far, so good), grow spiritually, update my blog more often, broaden my social activities, be more on time for social activities, keep up on the yoga and stretching, read(books) more often, attend more sporting events, see more of Colorado, and learn not to let little things get to me. It is fun to think of where I will be at this time next year.

Did anyone else make resolutions?

Queso

2010-12-30T22:30:00.003-07:00

Cheese. That's what this post is about.

A few years ago I got sucked into the blogging world. My sisters wrote post after post about their cute marriages, cute pregnant bellies, cute babies, cute toddlers, etc. I look forward to the fun updated pictures and happenings of my friends and family. Then I discovered my favorite part of blogging- food blogs. Cookie Madness, Picky Palate, The Recipe Girl.. I check my sidebar daily to explore new fun recipes, step by step directions, and fancy pictures that I call "food porn." Somehow salivating over images of delicious, naughty food, leaves me dreaming of sugar plums and chocolate chip cookies.

That was cheesy, wasn't it?

Speaking of cheese, that's what blogs are made of. The monster, disobedient, terror of a child suddenly is the perfect dream baby who only spits out cute cut and paste sentences, always smiling perfectly for the camera. The kitchen counter that is normally covered in mail, crumbs, and library books is showcasing perfect lighting, a Kitchenaid stand mixer, and perfectly packaged ingredients. But somewhere between the blogs about food, families, fashion, friends, there's a little bit of the etc. I guess that's the category I try and fit into. I don't blog all that often because I don't have a whole lot to say. Well, that's not true. I have a whole lot to say. I just say it outloud (or maybe via text or email) to anyone that might be reading this.

As part of my new years resolutions, I am going to try and update this a little more often. Hopefully my posts will be less cheesy, because as part of my new years resolutions I am also cutting out cheese. The real kind. The kind you put on pizza, sandwiches, pasta, enchilidas, or even just eat alone if it's that kind of day. I am also eliminating the rest of dairy, grains, and anything processed/full of preservatives. That leaves me to lean protein, non starchy vegetables, nuts, berries, and eventually a little more fruit. This "Paleo Revolution" is not about losing weight, but being healthy. I am excited to live a little cleaner and increase my athletic ability.

Last February I signed up for the Rock and Roll half marathon without thinking through the consequences. But between February and October I was sore, achy, tired, and overwhelmed. Somewhere along that path I also became more toned, lost weight, and found a passion for running. I challenged my body and mind, and realized that I have the power to accomplish so many things that I never thought I would be able to do. As a very overweight child and teenager, I made excuses, played the victim, and chose food as an outlet. As a fit adult I am happy to say that I can set healthy goals, work hard, and accomplish them. Up so far for 2011 is the Platte River half April 10th, and the Colfax full May 15th. After this last month of over indulging, I am excited to get focused and work hard toward running that marathon in May.

Since I can blog about whatever the hell I want (yup, it's MY blog, so I can say hell), I figure I can use this a digital training journal/outlet/ranting message board. It's more exciting than my dating life(non existent), friend drama(no drama here), kid stories(I might be member of Amazon mom but I don't have any real kids), or anything else most girls my age might be blogging about. Since I'm hanging up my bakers hat I'm going to try and get a little more into paleo recipes/cooking. Just don't expect any cheese in 2011.

friendsgiving

2010-11-30T21:41:00.003-07:00

Since I wasn't able to go to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving this year, I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner! My friend Dave decided to come out from Utah and brought his roommate, Josh. A girl from work, Kelsey, also joined in on our friendsgiving dinner. Dave prepared a delicious turkey and incredible mashed potatoes. Kelsey brought green beans (with bacon!!), and homemade sausage stuffing. I handled the rolls, and of course, dessert. I finally got to put my Cuisinart ice cream maker to use that Victoria bought me for my birthday, and made Maple Butter Blondies. Yumm.

After I picked Dave and Josh up from the airport, we headed to Wash Park for the 37th annual Turkey Trot. It was a 4 mile run around the outside, then inside of the park. It was crazy packed, and a lot of fun. It was especially cold and I think my lungs are still recovering. I finished in 34 minutes, which was my fastest pace yet. It was a good thing we got a quick run in before all of the eating we did alllllllllllllll day long.

It was really fun to have my friends hanging out, watching football, and preparing dinner. We even got to eat at my kitchen table. Even though it wasn't my first Thanksgiving away from home, it was my first Thanksgiving being without ANY family. I am looking forward to being with the family for Christmas.

Half Marathon

2010-11-30T21:07:00.002-07:00

We were with out internet for a really long time, but we are back to having it so I guess I should probably blog a little more often. I will make it part of my new years resolutions, and if it's successful, there will probably be a post about that.

In February my friend Kim signed up for the Rock N Roll Denver marathon. She mentioned that she signed up, and asked if anyone else wanted to do it too. I casually mentioned that if there was a half I would do it. I don't think I realized at the time that I wasn't just going to run 13.1 miles 9 months later, but I was going to complete several weeks of running 30-35 miles.

Training was a semi easy task for awhile. 6 or 7 mile runs were challenging, but not hard. As I increased my long runs to 8, 9, 10, 11 miles.. I was ready to back out of my commitment. But even though I dreaded my long run days, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment after I completed them.

And so race week came. I cried every day. Not really about running, but worried that I would over sleep, or eat the wrong things, or not have anywhere to put my keys. With the support of my friend Nick who dropped me off at 5:45 am, my trainer Joe who encouraged me, and countless "you can do its" from clients, I was ready to tackle the 13.1 miles.

I got to the race early, stretched, tried to keep warm (41 degrees), and tried to relax. I chatted with a few people hanging out, and waited in my corral to start. I was in the 13th corral so when the race started at 6:55, they released the first one, and then each one 1-2 minutes apart.

The first few miles were a breeze. It was cold, and felt good to run. I tried to soak it all in without dumping all of my adrenaline on the first couple of miles. We were 3 miles in before I even saw a sign of how far we'd come. I thought to myself, "Wow, that's almost a 5k" which was the first race I ever did last November. The first few miles were also through lower downtown (LODO), which was really cool to run through. Around mile 4 we headed up 17th which was a hill. Good thing it was only mile 4, because it was a pretty good incline. We ran down 17th, through city park, and even crossed my street. The familiarity of it was kind of cool.

The worst part of the race was around mile 9, when we arrived at Cheeseman Park. It was uphill, and had it been mile 6 or 7, I probably would have stopped to walk. But I had just eaten my GU and was ready to finish up. I trudged up the hill, and headed back toward downtown where the race ended. The last mile was downhill (same hill but different block at the uphill in mile 4), and you could see the finish line at the end. It was nice to be able to see the end in sight and rush to the end.

Since it was my first long race, I didn't really know what time I would finish in. I was hoping I would finish around 2:15, but would have been happy with anything under 2:30. I trained around a 10 minute mile but just wasn't sure. I ended up finishing in 2:01:09 which means I ran a 9:30 minute mile. I was absolutely thrilled with my time but of course wish I could have made it under 2 hours. It definitely gave me a time to beat. I felt great when I finished and definitely could have gone a little further. Not the whole race again, but that is something to work towards too.

Fire

2010-06-11T14:37:00.003-06:00

Monday evening I was at the gym when the lights flashed. A few minutes later a slew of fire trucks raced by the window. Shortly after I received a text from Danielle asking me if I saw the smoke. She told me that a powerbox had exploded and that the power was out. Seeing as it had reached 102 degrees on Monday, I took my time at the gym so I could skip the air conditioner and lights being shut off.

As I got closer to home, I realized that the power box she had mentioned was actually an Xcel power substation. I had to weave through the neighborhood to get home, and as I got closer I realized why. The explosion was one street away from my own. I parked my car and walked over to the next block to see what was going on. There was smoke, ash, and soot everywhere. People were swarming to the scene to see what was going on. It was clear that the explosion was more thsn just a little fire.

When I entered my building, there were alarms going off. I trecked my way up the 5 flights of stairs, only a little bit of dim light escaping from the hallways. The building was silent other than the alarms, and it felt empty like I wasn't supposed to be inside. My apartment was like an oven, and you could see nothing but flashing lights and smoke outside my window. I started searching the news on my phone to find out if the power would be coming back, and in the process found out that 31,000 people in Denver were without power due to the explosion. As it got darker outside, my apartment got creepier and creepier. I felt like I was in 911, and suddenly had visions of trying to run down the 5 flights of stairs to run from a fire.

Thankfully I had a friend that let me stay at her apartment that night. I later found out that power didn't come on til after midnight. Xcel has proceeded to call my phone every day at odd hours of the night and morning warning me that because we are sharing a power load that our power has to be shut off intermittently. It is a miracle that only one person was injured from the accident.

finally

2010-03-24T11:55:00.003-06:00

It's been awhile since I sat at my computer and typed out the happenings of my ever so exciting single life. Mainly because lately none of our neighbors have been kind enough to let us leech off of their internet connection. In fact, I'm typing this out in Word until I can take my laptop somewhere with wifi. It's either this or peck at the tiny keys on my cell phone screen, which would only lead to predictive text creating all kinds of interesting twists to my otherwise plain and repetitive life.

I left my jacket at home yesterday since the sun was shining (as it almost always is here in Colorado), and the highs were close to 70. The heat wave when I got into my car after work was comforting in a "spring has arrived" kind of way. Having the windows down and my radio turned up made for an enjoyable ride through rush hour traffic.Oh what a tease Mother Nature is! This morning was beautiful, but by 4:00 wet, heavy snow was pounding down covering my car in a slushy mess. While driving home in it was grueling, the 2.2 seconds I stood in it to de-ice my windshield wipers left my teeth chattering and my wet clothes clinging to my ice cold skin.

Hopefully spring will decide to come back and stick around for awhile. I am looking forward to long Sunday walks, and laying out at my pool on my days off, watermelon, outdoor concerts (Muse, Paramore, Lady Gaga..), not having to reshave my legs after getting goosebumps from being so cold, and so many more things that the sunshine has to offer us.

In recent happenings (we'll stick to recent instead of revisiting anything noteworthy since my last blog post in October), there are definitely a few things worth mentioning. About a month ago I ventured to Salt Lake for Erik and Cori's wedding. Erik has been one of my very best friends since we first moved to Utah. I was won over when I first met Cori during a stop they made to Denver over the summer, and was thrilled when I heard they were going to tie the knot. I offered to do Cori's hair and make-up and loved spending time with both of them the day of their wedding. I was so excited to be able to see so much of my family while I was there. I have a video of Harper dancing to Lady Gaga on my phone that makes me laugh so hard I cry every time I watch it. Even though Tyson has been home from his mission since December, this trip was the first time I got to see him. Aubrie and Greg left for a cruise the day after I got there, but I was able to see them and spend some time hanging out with Hailey and Gavin the next morning. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family.

During my trip to New York, Julianne introduced me to her sister in law Sarah. Sarah is a fashion designer in NYC with a clothing line called Edelweiss by Sarah. She just finished her fall/winter 2010 line and wanted to do the photoshoot for it outside. Because the weather in New York has been so terrible (maybe somewhat like we're experiencing now?), she decided to come out here to have Julianne shoot it. She hired me to do the hair and make-up for it, and it was a truly amazing experience. With 16 looks to shoot we spent all day outside at Bear Creek park. That has probably been my favorite day I've spent in Colorado. Trees and fashion, two of my favorite things brought together. And I feel like it is important to inform you all that for the very first time in my life, I squatted outside to pee. I hope you're all proud.

As part of my new years resolution, I signed up for a half marathon in October. I could have signed up for one sooner, but I felt like it would help keep me motivated beyond getting ready for summer. Besides, it's the Rock n' Roll marathon! I have been running at least 5 days a week, trying to reach 25 miles on the treadmill, plus the elliptical and weight training. One of my running frustrations has been headphones. They never stay in my ears! I'm constantly adjusting them, plus sweating through a pair about every 3-4 months. Recently I discovered the Vapor by Nike. They are an ear bud with an adjustable back. Clear sound, comfort, no adjusting! Also the cord can shorten if you are running with an arm band so that you aren't getting tangled up in them. I am possibly doing a 5k next month, definitely doing a 10k on Memorial Day, and moving outside to the pavement once the ice has melted. I am also working on some other new years resolutions that I will update about on a later blog post, which hopefully won't take me 4 months to get around to writing.

New York City!

2009-10-29T09:50:00.002-06:00

Since I've moved to Colorado, I've been saving up to go to New York. Most of the time when I get cash tips, I put them in a jar in my room for my "fun fund." I had quite a bit of money saved up, and then last year I used all of it for cash down on my car. I've spent the last 8 months building it back up so I could finally go to New York City. One of my best friends from Denver, Julianne, lives in Manhattan and I have been wanting to go out and see her. Because she drops back in to Denver to see her boyfriend a lot, it has been hard to figure out when I could go visit. About a month ago I finally booked a ticket out to see her. I only got to stay Friday til Monday, but we packed in a lot. However, I am sitting on my couch during snow day #2 for the week and am wishing that I had stayed longer.

Friday when I got in, I got on a bus toward her apartment. She was on a bus headed toward me, so we could take the rest of the ride together. Somehow I ended up on the wrong bus and headed toward Queens. I then got off the bus, walked a few blocks back to the airport, and got on the right bus. It wouldn't be an adventure for me if I didn't get lost at least a few times. We finally met up and dropped my stuff off at her place. We then went to the Museum of Metropolitan Art (the MOMA). Each floor had different themes (photography, painting, architecture, etc. We also went to dinner at this little hole in the wall Italian place, and it was delicious.

When I booked my trip, J hadn't realized that she had already committed to photograph a bat mitzvah in New Jersey. Instead of rescheduling my trip, I thought I would just explore the city by myself. J suggested that I take a bus tour through the city. Excellent idea. Unfortunately, it rained ALL day on Saturday. And the bus wasn't covered. I still had an excellent time, and got to see all of the major tourist highlights of the city and learn a lot of cool history. You could choose at each stop if you wanted to stay on the bus, or stop for the site. If you got off, there would be another bus later that you could get on. Because of the rain I wasn't really interested in getting off very often. I also didn't want to deal with getting lost. One stop I did get off at was Ground Zero. I stopped in at Paul's Chapel, which stands right in front of where the two towers once stood. The fact that it wasn't destroyed is a miracle in itself. This is where many of the firefighters, and survivors of the disaster came to sleep and rest. It is now covered in shrines to 9/11.

This is one of the ones that was very touching to me. It was a callaboration of flyers people had posted all over the city after that day. If someone was missing, family members would hang up flyers all over the city that had their picture, and a number to call if they had any details. This included people that worked at the World Trade Center, firefighters, police offers...

After I finished the tour, I decided to go shopping at H&M. I have google maps on my phone, so I looked up where the closest one was. Google maps on my phone is a little slow. I got lost, again. It took me about an hour to get there. Right before I got there I got completely splashed by a cab and was dripping wet. Then I arrived at the store to a sign saying that they were closed for a private event. I then spent another half our walking to the one on 5th Avenue, which was packed. I didn't get a whole lot of shopping done that day.

Sunday we got up and went to breakfast at Alice's Tea Cup. It was the cutest little tea shop, with the most incredible scones. We didn't have to wait for a table, so we had a lot of time before church. We stopped at a bakery that I've been eyeing called Levain. They makes breads, cinammon rolls, and the most incredible 1 1/2 inch thick cookies. Not cakey, no doughy, just delicious. Then we headed to Central Park. This was probably my very favorite part of the trip. It was THE most beautiful day outside. Sunny, perfect temperature, gorgeous trees. I love trees.

After that we went to church. The story above the church is the temple, so when you look up this is what you see.

After church we went to Brooklyn for Julianne to look at a few apartments. This might have killed my excitement to want to ever live in NYC just a little bit. Then we took the ferry so we could go past the Statue of Liberty. The night was just as beautiful as the day.

Monday was my last day, and we had a lot to do before going to the airport. We shopped on Canal Street, which is kind of like China Town. I was looking for a wallet, but couldn't find one that I liked. After we went to lunch with my friend Greg who I've known since middle school and now works in the city. We ate at the most delicious sandwich shop called WichCraft. I got to go back to H&M (dry) and got to do some real shopping. When we got back to J's apartment to grab my bags, there was a street vendor selling wallets. I was so excited, it was the one thing left that I wanted to buy and the perfect way to wrap up my trip.

Here are some more pictures from the trip.

light and dark

2009-10-18T18:44:00.002-06:00

A few months ago I got to participate in a photoshoot at the salon. Julianne Brasher, who is an incredible photographer (and also an icredible friend of mine) had this idea. Basically, she put out shapes in cardstock, and we held them in front of very bright lights to cast shadows on our models. She wasn't sure if it would work, but it turned out awesome. Since we were using the idea of light and shadows we used a blonde and a brunette model. The shoot was more focused on shape than on color. My boss, Kara Forshay, did all of the hair and I was the make-up artist for the shoot. Models are Tylor and Alexandra.

twenty-three

2009-09-16T22:23:00.003-06:00

My lack of posting hasn't been intentional, our shotty internet just makes it difficult to use the computer for reasons other than solitaire (I am getting good!) and charging my ipod. I am officially one year older, and I think a little wiser too. It's funny, I've always wanted to be 23. In my mind it has been the no-fail age. If you have a career, cool. If not, no sweat. Married? You're not going to get the "but you're SO young!" And if you aren't, you aren't getting set up with every last single person that all of my friends and family know. It has always seemed like the perfect, no pressure, euphoric age. And here I am..

I feel 22 was a milestone of a year for me. I won't say that it was a great year, but I learned a lot and feel that the not so great things helped me to mature. I was talking to Erica on my birthday and she said that 23 was the year that she felt like she was finally an adult. That is exactly how I've been feeling lately and I am excited that I am feeling a litttle more grown up.

I am really excited for the rest of the year. Megan is getting married next weekend and I am really excited for her wedding, and her bacherlorette party this weekend. My mom, Eric, and Carly and Kelly are (finally) coming to Denver next month. I am excited to show them my apartment, the new salon, and this beautiful city that I live in. I am also trying to plan a trip to New York City. Julianne left this week to go back, and I can't wait to go visit her!! I am also excited for football, halloween, and eventually the holidays. I love this fall weather, and am getting so excited for the leaves to change.

a little bit of an update

2009-08-22T23:04:00.003-06:00

I have had a lot of fun things to blog about lately, but we aren't paying for internet so the connection is pretty in and out. So here is a short summary of what's been up.

About a month ago Victoria and I moved into a new place. We're a lot closer to downtown and in a really fun neighborhood. There are a lot of cool restaurants within walking distance to us. My favorite cupcakes shop, The Shoppe is just a short walk up the street. It's open til 2 am, which is good and bad all at the same time. I think we are finally feeling settled but are slowly adding new decorations.

At the end of July, John(Moore) and I went to see David Archuleta and Demi Lovato. I love, love, love little David. It was a really cute show, and it was fun to hang out with John. I felt a little out of place being there, willingly, without accompanying a child but I really enjoyed the show.

A few weeks ago the SF girls went to Las Vegas for The Gathering, which is a Paul Mitchell hair show. It was such a blast, I really love Las Vegas. I love to people watch, and there are plenty of people worth watching there. We Stayed in The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. The whole tower is suites, so we had nice big rooms with double bathrooms. My favorite thing about it is that when you get off the elevator you're in a tranquil lobby (smells like coconut), rather than in a noisy casino. While we were there we went to a club called Pure. Luckily, the night we were there the rapper DMX was perfoming. I also got to meet the guys from Questcrew, from America's Best Dance Crew. One of the guys is on PM's karate team, so they performed at one of our general sessions. A few hours after we got there my friend Brittany from school drove up from St. George so we could catch up. It was SO, SO, SO good to see her!! We took a cutting class the first day, and got to see Angus Mitchell, Scott Cole, and Takashi rock out some pretty cool haircuts. The second day we took a business class with Robert Cromeans, and a business class with a guy named Brent Golden who is actually in charge of opening up the Denver PMTS. We learned some cool stuff from them, and got some great ideas from other sucsessful salons. We ate dinner at the Mesa Grill, one of Bobby Flay's restaurants, one night and the food was different but tasty. We also at at Olives at the Bellagio, and that food was fan-tastic. The last night we were there we went to The Foundation Room of The House of Blues. For those of you who don't know, John Paul Dejoria (the guy with the ponytail) not only owns Paul Mitchell, but he also owns Patron Tequila, and is co-founder of The House of Blues. While we were up there, John Paul came and sat with us and thanked us for coming to the show. I have had the opportunity to spend some time with him on a couple of occasions, and am always blown away at how down to earth he is. I am really excited to head back to Vegas for the show next year!

Other than that, things have been pretty normal. I've been really busy at work, and it's tiring but it's also really good for my paycheck! I am getting excited for fall, we've had a really weird summer. I can't believe it's already back to school but I guess that doesn't make a huge difference to me. Time is just moving by so quickly. I can't believe I've been in Denver for 2 1/2 years!

Jury Duty

2009-07-15T23:13:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, I got quite the dreaded piece of mail. Jury duty. For a lot of people, this might seem like fun, or an excuse to get out of work for a few days. In the state of Colorado the ONLY way to get out of jury duty is if you are the primary care giver of an elderly person whose life might be endangered by your absense. You are allowed one postponement a year, but I didn't want to use it and then get picked for a day where I actually had something going on.

I showed up at the courthouse at asbout 8:30 on Monday morning. They offer discount parking at the city center, which is about a 10 minute walk. I waited in line for about 10 minutes for security, and made my way to the waiting room. Several people came in an took groups of people to court rooms to pick their juries. At about 10:30 the woman told us that there were over 300 people that showed up, and we would probably all be used at some point in the day. She offered us a 15 minute break, so we scattered for coffee and bathrooms. An HOUR later, she showed back up and called another group. Then another. Then my number got called.

We entered a courtroom, and 12 of us took seats. We had to read off answers to a list of questions. I purposefully tried to distract myself, because really, who wants a juror that isn't paying attention? When I answered my information she had me repeat my age several times, making it obvious that I was at least 5 years younger than everyone else. The guy on trial was very close to my age, which I think he considered to be a good thing. When the lawyers came over to drill us with questions I picked at my nail polish, played with my shoes, made myself to appear as unabservant as possible. I guess they've seen that trick before, because I was picked.

The case was over a guy who had gotten in a fight with a security officer downtown last summer. Does stuff like this even need a jury? He was being tried with disturbing the peace, interference, assault, fighting in public, and threat. He was with his brother that night, and supposedly was threatening to kill some people. His brother had a gun. We were told that the case would be over with by the end of the afternoon, but by 6:00 we weren't even ready for closing arguements. I was very stressed out because I had a men's cutting class on Tuesday at 10 and a client at 12:00. I missed the class, but made it back to the salon in time for my client. The second day was closing arguements and deliberation. We found him guilty on 3 of the 5charges, but didn't get to stay in the courthouse long enough to find out his punishment. I haven't been able to find any info obline either.

As stressful at missing work was, it really wasn't too terrible. Everyone on our jury was super super nice. The defense lawyer was terrible, so watching him was actually really entertaining. I can't say that I would really want to be on a jury again, but it was cool to experience. And now I can say I've fulfilled my civil duty for the year.

A little late...

2009-06-26T20:55:00.002-06:00

For those of you who don't know, Salon Foushee is moving. And by moving, I mean it already moved. The original plan included us working through tomorrow, and moving after work. However, due to issues with the landlord we are completely out of the Coal Mine location and will be reopening on July 1st at the new Belleview location. I will post pictures as soon as we have everything into place!

While caught up in all of this craziness going on, I never made a Father's Day post! It is a little late, but I think it is only fair because Eric came into my life a little late! Just kidding Eric, but I love you tons! I am going to try and squeeze out 20 facts that I know about this awesome man.

1. He is great on the grill! I love his ribs, but he makes a lot of other great stuff on there too.

2. He loves the show According to Jim, and in so many ways reminds me of Jim Belushi.

3. dubbed the song Just Another Day In Paradise as our family song.

4. he can build/design/remodel ANYTHING,

5. his feet are pretty "damn" hot.

6. he doesn't like celery.

7. he gets along with EVERYONE

8. In highschool when I encountered a few minor fender benders, I always called him first because I knew he'd be calm and help me calm down.

9. He loves football, especially the University of Utah.

10. He served his mission in Tennessee. His younger brother also served in the same mission at the same time.

11. he does a great impression of "Bruce."

12. his pies are DELICIOUS! He once gave my sister Aubrie and our cousin Brittany and their dates pie making lessons.

13. he enjoys camping and fishing

14. once we went to St. George for spring break, and he created this awesome game that entertained us for over an hour. The game consisted of who could make it to the end of the hall without making the motion sensor light flash.

15. He likes chick flicks, and even watched Twilight with us last time I was in SLC.

16. In addition to all of the other delicious food he makes, he makes really great breakfast. I love, love, love his hashbrowns.

17. When we all lived at home and went to church together, after the sacrament he would pass out the flourescent green spearmint gum to our whole row.

18. He hasn't really figured out facebook yet and on his birthday thanked everyone for the birthday wishes signed in under my moms name.

19. he loves being a grandpa and his grandkids love how silly he is

20. And most importantly, he makes my mom so very happy! He is such a great husband to her, and such a great example to my little sisters.

I love you Eric, and I hope you had a great time on your trip!

In The Kitchen

2009-05-24T21:07:00.002-06:00

I've talked a lot about food, but I have yet to actually show you anything that I've made. I have been semi obsessed with several food blogs lately, but one in particular. Cookie Madness... This chick is a trooper, she bakes something basically every day! Sometimes several things. She mainly bakes cookies, but she also has baked up some pretty tasty looking treats! I have been looking for an excuse to make a few of her items and finally got to try my hand this weekend. Last week sometime she posted her "Favorite 5." This includes her 5 favorite chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, brownies, etc. One of her favorite brownies caught my eye so I decided to put it to the test. They were a huge hit, and fun to make. Messy to cut, but mainly because of all of the toppings on top. Here's a picture of how they turned out, along with her recipe.

Caramel Filled Brownies

1 cup whole pecans (more or less, RR uses 1 ½ cups)
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate
2 sticks unsalted butter (8 oz)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (14 oz) bag of caramels
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more if you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place pecans on a cookie sheet and toast for 7-9 minutes or until aromatic. Let cool. When cool, chop.

Meanwhile, line a 13×9 inch pan with Release foil or parchment paper. You could also just line with foil and spray the foil. Make sure to spray the sides so the caramel won’t stick to the sides.

Place chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and repeat until smooth. Let cool for about 5 minutes. While chocolate cools, in a separate bowl beat sugar and eggs on high speed of an electric mixer for 3 entire minutes. Beat in vanilla. Stir chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Using a mixing spoon or wire whisk, stir in flour and salt. Pour about half of this batter into the lined pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Cool for 20 minutes. While first layer cools, prepare filling.

Unwrap caramels (ack! Why don’t they make unwrapped caramels!) and put them in a saucepan with the 1/3 cup of cream. Heat on medium low, stirring often, until caramels are melted. Stir about half of the chopped pecans into the caramel. Pour the caramel mixture over the brownie layer.

Spread the remaining brownie mix over the caramel filling. It is kind of tricky, so do your best, but don’t worry about covering all the caramel. Scatter chocolate chips and remaining pecans over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for another 20 minutes or until the top batter appears set but not dry. Allow brownies to cool completely (this should take a few hours). I like to cool them and then chill them because it makes slicing easier.

I also made another recipe she has introduced me too. It's delicious, but a new concept. It is kind of a candy, like a toffee, but filled with trail mix like items. One of those items being Frito chips. Yikes! I know.. Fritos! But it's a sweet and salty candy, and the Fritos are more of an accent than a main ingredient. I left it in the fridge until we left today, and it got kind of gooey in the car even though it wasn't that hot. I think if I know it's going to be sitting out I would freeze it to make sure it really sets up nicely. Here's a picture, and read the recipe so you get the concept and don't just think I'm a total nut.

Frito Candy
2 cups of pretzels
1 cup Frito chips
12ish mini peanut butter cups (I used 6 big ones, they are a little gooey. Either way, you might want to toss these in the freezer ahead of time to make the chopping cleaner)
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 cups semi sweet/dark chocolate chips

Break pretzels and Fritos. Don't crush them, but break them. This will make breaking the candy easier. Chop peanut butter cups. Toss mix, and lie flat on a foil lined pan. You want it to be spread pretty thin. Melt butter, and add brown sugar. Bring to a boil for one minute. Pour evenly over mixture. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and scatter chocolate chips on top. Put back in oven for a minute or two, until chocolate chips are soft enough to spread. Spread evenly over the top. Cool, then refridgerate to set. Break into pieces.

Now that you're hungry, I'll talk a little bit about today. Today the girls from Salon Foushee drove to La Jara (outside of Alamosa) to bless Neva's headstone. I have been dreading this day.. but knew that it was something I needed to do. Everything about it was making me nervous. I bake when I'm emotional, which explains my over the top treats. I stood in front of my closet for what felt like hours this morning. What do you wear to something like this? Peri and I left my apartment, and I told her that I didn't want to go. She didn't want to either, I don't think any of us did. Because I wasn't able to be there when the burried her (they also had a closed casket funeral), it still has seemed a little unreal. Seeing her burial plot, and her headstone would make it feel a little permanent.

We met up with the girls in Castle Rock and left from there. As we were getting into Colorado Springs we were routed off the freeway because of an accident. As we went over the overpass we could see the remnants of a terrible accident and the car grew quiet. The images I have engrained in my mind of Neva's car hit me like a brick.

We got into La Jara after about 4 hours and met at the cemetary. What a green, beautiful place. Her headstone was beautiful. They put her picture on it, and there was a sweet poem on the back. A Catholic Priest gave a sermon, and read from the Bible. How lucky I am to have such strong faith that I will be able to see my dear friend again. It was a comfort to be surrounded with her family, and to visit the home she grew up in. We are lucky to have each other at work. I think of her every day. She left an incredible impression on me, and everyone that knew her. I am so lucky to have known someone worth missing so much.

Momma

2009-05-10T19:47:00.002-06:00

Happy Mother's Day! I hope everyone is able to appreciate their own mom today, and will continue to do so for the next year. I am going to snag Jacque's fabulous idea and tell you 25 things about my mom.

1. She is an amazing cook. She makes delicious homemade bread, lasagna, chicken spaghetti, cakes, Christmas treats, and THE best peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches.

2. She likes to camp and fish.

3. She loves limeades.

4. In Texas when people would call and talk to her on the phone forever, she would have us ring the doorbell so she could pretend she had to go. The door we used to enter/exit the house didn't have a doorbell, but whoever was on the phone never seemed to make that connection.

5. She works as a Special Education teacher, and is very passionate about giving those kids a great education, and great environment to learn.

6. She isn't afraid of PDA, "No making out in the kitchen Mom!"

7. She tries hard not to hurt your feelings
me: Mom, how do you like my new hair cut?
mom: Ummm... well.. what look are you going for?

8. She is afraid of heights, and I have inherited that same quality.

9. She loves babies and kids. And they love her too.

10. She is good at planning stuff. Everything has to have a plan, and she's great at delegating it.

11. In highschool she didn't care if I skipped classes as long as I had A's.

12. She is sensitive to all of her kids different needs and wants.

13. She has style. She tries hard to do her hair like I do it, and doesn't use cheap make-up.

14. She is madly, hopelessly, in love with her husband.

15. She loves playing games. Canasta, Mad Gab, The Fruit Game, Poker.. Even is some of them make her look silly.

16. She likes everyone to be included, and goes out of her way to make sure no one is left out.

17. When I was little she would pay me money to rub her feet and play with her hair. She had this red round brush that would always get tangled in her hair.

18. She went to BYU (twice) but is a huge U of U football fan.

19. She doesn't really like cereal, but when I was little she would eat this cereal called Raisin Squares. I loved it too, and still put raisins in my shredded wheat cereal.

20. When we lived in Texas she loved garage sales, and had several of them at our house.

21. She always wanted a house that had a wrap around porch, and a cocker spaniel. No porch yet, but when she and Eric got married he had a cocker spaniel named Dennis.

22. She used to take us to Longview shopping ALL day long on Saturdays. We got to go to the mall, Target, and Sam's club. Such a treat.

23. She stayed up late checking my math homework for me all during elementary school.

and for my 2 favorite things about my mom...

24. She LOVES getting good deals. If you tell her you like her shirt, she tells you where she got it and how much it costs. She loved coupons when I wad little. She loves the clearance racks. I make fun of her for this, but have inherited that same quality from her.

25. She is the most giving person I know. As busy as she was when I was little, she volunteered in my classroom. She helped out people in our ward that didn't have money. She bought me stuff when I complained that I always got me hand me downs, even when we didn't have the money. She is always happy to give to someone else, because she knows that there are always people that are worse off.

I love you Mom! Thanks for all that you do for me, you are the best mom ever!!

2009-04-03T18:56:00.004-06:00

blizzard

2009-03-29T21:52:00.001-06:00

2009-03-29T21:44:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday started out as a pretty normal day. I woke up exhausted, but put on my gym clothes to head out for the gym. I could hear cars outside my window, and recognized the sound of tires on pavement- not tires sliding in slush. I peeked outside and let out a sigh of releif that we hadn't gotten the "8+ inches" the news had promised. Phew.

So I packed up my stuff (I get ready for work at the gym, due to it being 15 minutes from my house in the direction on the salon), and poured myself some Kashi. Shortly after I head that Cherry Creek School District had cancelled school on account of it being a snow day. But where was the snow? It certainly wasn't at my house. It turns out that the storm was supposedly delayed, and expected around noon. A storm big enough to cancel school, even before it had started? I got a little nervous. I headed to the gym (which is west, toward the mountains) and as I got closer there was a little more snow. The gym is basically all windows, so while running on the treadmill I could see that the wind was picking up and the snow was coming down. Within an hour it was coming down hard.. I got a call from the salon saying that all but one of my clients had called in to cancel. The salon is even further west, and they were already experiencing a white out. I haven't had a snow day since Texas, what a fun surprise! I continued to workout because really, a snow day means a lazy day with plenty of junk food. After over 2 hours of cardio, and watching the storm blow in I headed out.

I now understand what a "white out" is. I could barely see the car in front of me, and was dying of heat with my defrost blasting. Cars were all over the road.. hazards blinking, tons of cars stranded on the side of the road. My usual 15 minute drive turned into over an hour. I live at the top of a hill which was scary in itself, since that same hill takes you to the freeway and there was mass confusion due to stoplights without power. It turned out that everyone got sent home from work at the same time.

By the time I got home Victoria had found out she was off of work too. What a lazy day. We watched tv, surfed the net, took naps.. just about everything. I was highly disappointed that both Ellen and Oprah had been replaced with local news and the latest blizzard report. Around 8 we couldn't take the silence anymore. We called every restaurant within a mile to see if we could get out of the house. The only thing open was Old Chicago so we got to eat some delicious pizza and watch basketball. There was no one on the roads by that time so the ride was slow but not too scary. I can say I've survived my first (and hopefully last?!) blizzard!
\

The T's and the P's

2009-03-15T18:35:00.003-06:00

When I was about 16 my mom and I were chatting and (from my recollection)out of nowhere she suggested that I marry someone tan. Her theory on this was that though all of her brothers and sisters were pale, those with tan spouses had tan children. Now let me explain to those of you bronzed babes- this isn't just a vanity plea. I remember many blistering sunburns from the scorching sun. Sunscreen in my eyes at Six Flags and Lagoon. The older I've gotten the more I appreciate my fair skin. I like my freckles and red hair. I slather on sunscreen underneath my make-up, and know that my skin will thank me later.

I often get the question, "What are you looking for in a guy?" Now even though I am not sure I really know the answer to that question I have normally smile and respond with, "tall*, tan**, and temple worthy." I mean really, what else does a girl need? Actually, I just found out.

My boss recently heard some hullabullo on Oprah about a new book by Steve Harvey called "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man." In his book he depicts where women go wrong, and what to look for to know if your relationship is for sport or for keeps. I would recommend this book to all of the ladies out there- single, in a relationship, engaged, or married. So from this book I add to my list "looking for." In addition to a guy who is tall*, tan**, and temple worthy- I would like a man who will profess, protect, and provide. If you know a single gentelman who fits this criteria, feel free to send him my direction.

*I am 5'11" without shoes on, tall is considered this height or taller.
**due to my attraction for red heads, this is negotiable.

Boom. Roasted

2009-02-02T21:25:00.005-07:00

I didn't really care about the superbowl this year, but it's always fun to get together with friends and have some good food. As for The Office, I think that might be my favorite episode yet. I'll be making my list of people that I would make out with before I'd make out with Michael Scott. However, I won't be sharing that list with you here.

I often mock the fast and testimony meetings in my ward. They are a little less predicable these days, which I consider to be a good thing. The last few months have been a lot more sincere, and a little less for show. I found yesterdays meeting especially uplifting, and left feeling spiritually fed. The pulpit was graced by several newer members, who bore testimony of their new found truth. I was recently reading a blog post written by my friend Zack. We attended EFY together at least 5 years ago and his outgoing personality left a deep impression on me. Though I don't keep contact with him I love reading his witty blog entries. His last entry seemed to be especially insightful and I would encourage you to read it. It can be found here: everydayiseasterinmycloset.blogspot.com

I have been reading the conference edition of the Ensign for the last week at the gym every morning. What a great way to start the day! It amazes me how having a positive attitude can turn a dull day into a great day. Also, a friend shared this video with me this weekend. I shared it with my mom, and thought I should share it with everyone. Just remember- it's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game.

A Historic Event

2009-01-20T21:11:00.002-07:00

As much as I like to open my big mouth.. I just want to say that I am proud to be an American today and excited to see Obama as president. This is a huge historic event, and I feel blessed to be able to witness it. I have only been able to see part of his speech from this morning but am excited to see it in its entirety.

I finally got a car. I shouldn't say finally since I was only looking for a couple of weeks. But wow, I am relieved to not have to shop anymore. I made the great mistake of test driving a Mazda 6. It was smooth and fast, still zippy and sporty. I felt at home behind the wheel.. and the dealer thought I was a sucker. When he tried to get me to pay $1000 over sticker price I laughed in his face, and kept on hunting. I drove a few Hondas. A Corolla. Even a few American cars... nothing compared. So I found myself a 2005 Mazda 6 and am loving every second of it. What power!

Recently, I discovered a fun little fitness website called sparkpeople.com. It is a social network, and a nutrition/fitness site. It's cool because you can log all of your food and exercise, read message boards, post pictures, etc. I have been doing that for about 2 weeks now. I am following a low fat (30% fat )diet, not eating sweets, counting calories, etc.. So week one I was down 5.5 pounds, and now at the end of week 2 I am down another 3. That's 8.5 pounds so far this year. I am feeling great, and really enjoying the gym. Except for that darn stair climber... I freakin hate that thing, but put in my 30 minutes a day regardless. I am thinking about running a half marathon in September. I am looking for people to run any races with in the meantime, so let me know if you're interested.

People

2009-01-13T23:34:00.005-07:00

I have had a lot on my mind lately, and it's hard for me to sort out my thoughts. I've been doing lots of journaling of my own, and felt like blogging my thoughts tonight. I have been (and still am) so caught up in trying to buy a car that I haven't even slowed down to do anythign else. So here I am, test driving a car tonight.. I have the dealer in the back seat, my most wonderful friend Alan in the front seat... and I'm rambling off about my ipod, the laptop I just purchased, and it clicks to me how many "toys" I have accumulated lately.

I have recently been rereading my favorite book, "What Happy People Know." I live by this book. I practice what it teaches, and try and share what it has taught me with everyone. I am constantly recommending it to clients, friends, and family, and even gave a copy of it to one of my friends for Christmas. It's great, pick it up when you have a chance. I've been recognizing how many people use some thing to fill voids in their lives. For some people it's something more destructive like drugs or alochol, others it can be something wonderful like love, affection, and companionship. And there is most definitely those of us who fill our lives with things.. clothes, toys, make-up, etc.. At some point I think all of us have used at least one of these things to "heal" us, without ever trying to fix the problem.
So what's the point? Here we are, our ultimate goal being perfection, aspiring to be like our older brother Jesus Christ. How is a new purse, or a large serving of chocolate cake, a new house, a new boyfriend, a new tv, going to help us achieve that?

I am so greatful for the incredible people I have in my life. Mainly my mother, who I have never known to really want anything. Okay, so that is an exageration, but honestly I can't ever think of anything big that she's ever asked for or expressed desire for. When we ask her what she wants for anything, her response is usually, "I want a clean house." Only ever replaced with the even more selfless, "I want my children home with me," or "I want my daughter to be happy." I would say that no matter what the circumstance my mother has been an incredible example of being genuinely happy. I am so lucky to have such a great family.

Neva has been on my mind a lot lately. I keep thinking of all of the funny things that she said to me throughout the years. Or how she would take naps in the break room, or her car, or wherever she could lay her head. How she about scared me half to death my first week of work telling me that if I didn't do my share of color bowls everyone would hate me. I still miss her presence every day. Peri had a client today who told her that since she had been in last she lost both her son and her husband in a car accident. When Peri told those of us in the back room we all gasped in unison, and I think our hearts broke all in the same way. After recently losing such a great friend, I can only imagine how she is feeling. How dare I complain about not having anything to wear, my grown out roots, or missing my favorite tv show? The Lord has blessed me with so many great things, and more importantly, so many great people.

car shopping

2009-01-09T16:20:00.003-07:00

How frustrating. You would think in this economy, dealerships would be giving cars away.. I have been test driving, haggling, and I am totally burnt out. I found a car that I love, but the dealer just won't meet me at a reasonable price. He's definitely missing out on an awesome sale. So everyone cross your fingers that I will find something awesome and get a great deal on it.

2 of my very favorite shows started this week. The Biggest Loser is on Tuesday nights, and Real World is on Wednesday. There's nothing like watching a bunch of overweight sweaty people get yelled at by their overly athletic fitness coaches. The first few episodes are kind of hard to watch for me, but I love seeing everyone change over the 10 weeks. It's very motivating for me! And who doesn't love The Real World? Drama, drama, drama. This season there are 2 people from Salt Lake (they both went to East High), one is Mormon and one is not. I think they thought that would cause more drama than it probably will, but it's hard to tell so soon. Oh and American Idol starts on Tuesday! The auditions are always hilarious, and it's fun to guess which of the good people will make it through to the top 12(?). And a little birdie told me that a dear friend of mine makes it through to Hollywood. And no, that friend is NOT David Osmond. Just wait, she'll knock your socks off I'm sure.

This is random but I gave up sweets for the new year. If you know me, you know that I am a chocoholic.. but so far it's going really well! No crazy cravings, other than seeing a lot of recipes that I would love to whip up. My original plan was to only eat them on holidays and vacations, but I am in a little bit of a competition with a friend, so we will see how long I can go.

2009

2009-01-04T21:52:00.003-07:00

Christmas came and went and I didn't even tell you all about it. Mostly because if you read this, I probably shared part of the holiday with you. I love being able to see my family, and I even enjoy being able to do their hair for them (despite of complaining about it). I really enjoyed spending time with loved ones, and catching up with old friends. I guess I will be back in a few short months of Chase's farewell... and then I am vowing to take a break from Utah. I need real vacation, so you will all have to come see me until I can't handle my Cafe Rio cravings anymore.

The new year is here, and I love that it is an opportunity for new beginnings. I am great at making and keeping goals, but my only resolution this year was to work on keeping my goals. So rather than making year long resolutions, I made a lot of short term progressive goals.

I'm not going to lie, 2008 was tough and I'm not sad to see it go. Some great things came out of the year- Harper being born, some weddings, Victoria moving in, work going well... I definitely recognize all of the many blessings that I received. But it was definitely the most trying year I've had. I had a lot of challenges that I still don't really know how I moved through. I made some stupid decisions, I had friends make stupid decisions, and here I am trying to move through the rubble and have a postiive attitude. I am a firm believer that the harder the trial, the greater the lesson. Wow, what amazing things I learned last year. In 5th grade I grew from 5'1" to 5'7". 6 inches in about 9 months. Talk about about growing pains. That was 2008 for me in the emotional sense.

I am vowing to make 2009 a great year. I am so lucky to have amazing people in my life. I am not worrying about people that don't worry about me. I met a friend a few months ago who told me he only had a few friends, but those friends were people he'd do anything for- and would do the same for him. I was talking to him right before Christmas and told him that I've realized how much I envy that. I would like to think that I would do ANYTHING for any of my friends, but I wasted a lot of time in 2008 that would certainly not do the same for me. Here's to strong relationships, real friends, and an amazing family.

Trust

2008-12-22T23:56:00.002-07:00

"You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough."

In my twenty-two years, I have learned that there are many people who can not be trusted. My first experience where that trust was broken, was really enough to do me in for good.. JFK once said, "Forgive your enemies, but don't forget their names." I have learned that until you can forgive someone, you will always have the constant burden of hate and fear on your shoulders. It took me a long time to forgive that person. I have not forgotten what they did, but I can truly say that I have let go of that hate that I carried around for years.

As I have entered adulthood, though I have forgiven, I have not forgotten of the times where I have felt that my trust was betrayed. Unconciously I have pushed important people away from me, and have been led by fear to doubt not only them, but myself. It has been a strong roadblock in my relationships, both romantically and with friends. After the ending of a "relationship" that ended earlier this year, I realized that not trusting him was what held me back from really appreciating who he was.

So after that, I made a vow to move on and let go of those inhibitions. But then I watched that same person betray his trust to someone else... I have seen friends cheat, be cheated on, and hide it like trust is something you can buy in bulk. Who is that fair to?

I have lost great faith in someone I believed to be a true friend. I had been reassured so many times by this person that she was honest, and cared about our friendship. This same "friend" was with me through some very difficult times, which only made me trust her more. It disappoints me to see how quickly she could throw away a friendship, and what for.

Brent always told me that the only person you can trust or rely on is yourself. I am starting to realize that he is right, to an extent. I am glad that I have a strong relationship with the Lord, and know that I can trust Him. At this time of year I am celebrating the miracle of the birth of our Savior. He is the purest example of the miracle of forgiveness. He forgave his friends that denied and crucifide Him. He taught us now matter what happens we can forgive and learn to love that person. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ this Christmas season, and am greatful for the real reason why we celebrate this holiday.

I'm freezing like a freezer

2008-12-15T22:32:00.002-07:00

I have been caught on various occasions telling my little sisters that I am "freezing like a freezer" (and also that I am smoothe like a smoothie...), but this time I could actually be right. It is definitely colder outside than it is in my freezer. Denver set a new record today at -18, and going outside is insta brain freeze. There were some 300 school busses in the Denver area today that wouldn't start, leaving those poor little kids waiting for a bus that would never come.

Friday night we had our ward Christmas party, dubbed an "Ugly Sweater Party." The turnout wasn't all that great, but there was definitely no competition to Jonathan's 4th grade teacher-esque sparkling sweater.

Saturday was the Salon's Christmas party. When the SF girls get together, there is never a dull moment. We went out to a club last weekend called 24karat. It is above the ever trendy Monark which was the bar featured on Real World Denver (p.s., I am SO excited for Real World Brooklyn!). I love getting dressed up for any occasion so it was fun to get dressed up two weekends in a row. Here is Peri and I excitedly taking our "shots" or Martinellis.

In other news.. I am so prooud of my little brother Chase, who will be serving his mission in San Antonio. I know that he will be a great missionary, and the people of San Antonio are lucky to have him for the next 2 years. I'm also excited to talk to Ty on Christmas, it's been over a year since I've heard his voice. Tomorrow we are having an Enrichment activity at my house wrapping Christmas gifts. I always procrastinate wrapping my gifts, so that will take care of that problem. Yesterday while I was trying to get ahold of someone in my family I thought I noticed the smell of something burning.. I asked Victoria if she smelled it, but she reassured me my nose was confused. Just to make sure I headed to the kitchen and discovered that thick dark grey steam was emerging from our dishwasher. I opened the door and after the thick cloud dispersed, I discovered that a plastic lid was resting on the heating element. Thankfully we caught it before full ignition!! At least it would have kept us warm through this crazy cold weather..

Snow!!!

2008-11-30T22:23:00.003-07:00

Winter has been very slow coming, but it is finally here and we have beautiful Colorado snow. Driving to work on Saturday was breathtaking.. Driving west toward the mountains, the sky blue, the roads clear, but everything else covered with a blanket of snow that sparkled in the sun.. Oh how I love Denver.

The Moore's were so kind to have both Victoria and I over for Thanksgiving. I love being around family, especially little kids. Victoria is a convert, and had never had a "Mormon holiday." Not that they are really anything different, but this one definitely included kids, chaos, and jello!

I have so many things to be grateful for this year. For awhile now I have been keeping a gratitude journal. When I am having a tough time, seeing my blessings spilled over the paper reminds me how much my Heavenly Father loves me. Here is a (very) short list of things I am grateful for.

My loving parents,
Erica, Aubrie, Carly, and Kelly
Tyson and Chase
Greg and Tom
Hailey and Harper (and also Aub's baby bump..)
My sweet grandparents
ALL of my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.. there are a lot of people included in that!
blogs that keep my updated on everyone
Salon Foushee
my amazing coworkers
my clients
my kick-a roommate Victoria
Amazing friends... Peri, Natalie, Karen, Sam, Teresa, Brittany, Jacque, Maxene, Kyle, Adam, Julianne, etc, etc, etc..
my oh so crazy personal trainer Matt
knowing Neva
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
The Bible
The Book of Mormon
Church and my very welcoming ward
chocolate
health
music
ipods
cell phones
esp text messaging
chapstick
my apartment
Justin Timberlake (don't roll your eyes at me)
make-up
my car
snow, rain, sun..
books
magazines

There are a million more things I could list but my brain is shut off and the list is ending there. Thanks to everyone who has been such a support to me these last few months. It's been a rough ride but I am healing a little more each day, and am thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life!!

2008-11-21T17:08:00.004-07:00

First and foremost, I have to confess that Victoria and I saw Twilight at midnight last night. I had been hesitant to dive into the popular Vampire series, but the girls at the salon talked me into it. I'll admit that the whimsical and always romantic Edward sucked me right in, and I easily identified with the ever clumsy Bella. So we bought our tickets, counted down the days, hours, minutes.. and finally 12:01 arrived and the big screen came to life. Overall, I'll say it was okay. The make-up was terrible, the story really was pretty shallow, and they tried way too hard to modern it up. I mean really, Eric was asian and Tyler was black? Not at all what I had pictured them. But I still swooned over Edward..

In other news, Michelle came to visit last weekend. Michelle and I were friends high school, and recently got back in touch. I've been her my last few excursions to Utah, so she decided to come check out Denver. We had a lot of fun! We went to The Melting Pot for fondue dessert, that was something cool that I hadn't done before. I also took her downtown to the 16th Street Mall. Here is a picture of Me, Victoria, and Michelle at dinner.

On a more serious note, while Michelle was here we went to the Columbine High School memorial. This is something that I have been wanting to do since I moved here, but I had never actually taken the time to stop by it. Columbine is only a few minutes away from the salon and I still remember the first time I drove past the school, it was like I instantly recognized it without seeing the name. Many of our clients have been affected by the shooting, and the community is still definitely recovering from it. I was only in 6th grade when the shootings happened, but I still remember the death count rising as the day went on.

The memorial is really cool. It's up on a hill, and there is a brick wall displaying quotes from students, parents, the president, and other people from the community. There is also a display for each student, and the one teacher that was killed. What was interesting to me, was that every person had some mention to God. There were quotes from journal entries, poems written, favorite scriptures.. Being up there was a very emotional experience, especially having lost a dear friend this year. Here are a few pictures I took on my phone while we were there.

Halloween

2008-11-02T18:13:00.004-07:00

Those pictures weren't taken from a haunted house, they were taken at my parents house. Eric LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Halloween. It is fun to see him get really into it, and everyone else really appreciates all of the hard work he does putting up decorations. Those are just a sample of what I saw when I was home, and they were just getting started. On top of the killer decorations, my parents always have a little production in their driveway. Hot chocolate, hot dogs, candy, lawn chairs, etc... It's the place to be on the 31st. Many of my friends still stop by to check out the party, and the passersby appreciate the unique decorations and fun treats.

I didn't think I could justify going home for Halloween over Christmas, so I stayed here in Denver. Friday night Natalie and I went to a YSA dance. It was... interesting. People got really into costumes which was really cool. My favorite was my friend Stephen who went as a nerd. He was unrecognizable. He spent the night flirting with friends from across the dance floor, making them very uncomfortable. Here's a picture of his costume.

Saturday I went to a costume party at Kim and Seths. It was mostly girls from the salon, and then some of their friends too. It was a lot of fun, i loved Kim's figure skater costume, and her chihuahua, Chip, was Bob Marley. I was a Devil both nights, but we all know that I'm an angel at all other times.

wedding bells

2008-10-18T20:45:00.003-06:00

I didn't realize that the wedding season lasted all year long. But I guess that's what happens when you're young. My fridge is covered in pictures of couples that are dreamy eyed, and ready for marriage and all of the things that it involves (and since most of them are Mormon, I am mostly talking about the "s" word.)

This year, I have seen a lot of different views on marriage. I have watched most of my close friends get married, and have realized that all relationships are very different. I think I also realized that it doesn't have to make sense to me.. as long as it makes sense to them.

It seems like an abnormal amount of my clients are having trouble with their marriages, or are already filing for divorce. We live in a culture that basically mocks marriage, between celebrities, gay marriages, etc.. Not to mention that no one really "dates" any more, they all just "hang out." I've had plenty of interesting experiences in that area.. and well, needless to say, I don't think I'll be getting married any time soon.

I was in Utah last weekend for Teresa's wedding. What a wonderful thing to be so involved in(I did hair and make-up for her and her wedding party). She looked so beautiful, and I was so pleased that I could help her really stand out that day, and in her pictures. I admire (and slightly envy) the way a couple in love looks at each other.

While I was in town we were also having a celebration for my grandma and grandpa Montgomery's 50th wedding anniversary. 50 years together!! All of my mom's 6 siblings were there, and all but 6 of the cousins were there. What an amazing feeling to be surrounded by so much family. And to think that we were all there because of my two sweet grandparents.

You can see why weddings would be on my mind, with everyone getting married, having anniversary's, and even getting divorced. My mind can't help but wander to those two words written on my calender under the 18, "Neva's wedding." Oh how my heart breaks for Carlos, who was supposed to marry his beautiful bride today. I think of how excited she was when her dress finally fit perfect.. and to know that less than a week after she told me that, she was buried in her wedding dress.

I can't begin to understand what it's like to lose someone you have your whole heart and soul tied to. Sweet Neva.. As the days pass it become a little more real, I just keep waiting for her to be standing at her station, or maybe standing on her step stool at The Color Bar. I just read a book called The Last Lecture, that I would highly recommend.. It's about a brilliant professor living his last days, dieing from pancreatic cancer. He talks about seizing the day, chasing your dreams, and not just having what you want- but wanting what you have. He says at one point that he's grateful that he knew he was dieing so that he could take full advantage of his time. But I believe that even though Neva went without warning, she did just that. She was an inspiration to me, the girls at Salon Foushee, and all of her clients. I am missing her a lot these days.. but I can feel her close.

I long for a love like Neva and Carlos, my grandma and grandpa, Teresa and Shane, and even my mom and Eric. I am so lucky in this crazy backward world, to have such great examples of how a marriage should work. And okay okay, let me just make it clear that I am in NO RUSH to get married or anything like that. I'm just saying.. one day... way way way down the road.. At least I have people to look up to.

some changes

2008-10-06T22:12:00.002-06:00

Last night I was able to go to an AMAZING concert!! The show was Tokyo Police Club, Angels & Airwaves, and Weezer. Even though Weezer was the headlining band, I went to see Angels & Airwaves which is one of my all time favorite bands. All three bands did an amazing job, and Weezer played for over an hour and a half! I went with Kara F, Danielle, and Stephanie. Danielle is a freak for Tom Delong and his side belt. She was like me at and NSYNC concert! And it was Stephanie's first real concert, so it was cool to have it be such a big one! I also got a DVD called Behind The Machine which is some Angels & Airwaves situation, but I haven't had time to scope it out.

I am getting to go to Salt Lake again this week. I leave on Wednesday night and stay clear til Monday evening. I am going because ofne of my best friends from highschool, Teresa, is getting married. I am doing her hair and make-up and am VERY excited about it! I am also really excited to see my family. While I am there, there is going to be a celebration for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! 50 years! That is a VERY long time these days!!

So, for the big change going on. As you may or may not know, I had a new roommate move in the middle of July. She called me the VERY day that I had told the relief society president that I was looking for someone, and everything worked out perfect. Well it turned out that she is married, and is a military wife. Due to the training program her husband is in, she hasn't been allowed to live with her husband... Well, until now. Cary got to go to Florida to see her husband 2 weekends ago, and when she came home last Monday she let me know that she's moving to Portland on the 10th. So at first I kind of freaked out. I mean, really, this is huge for Cary. How exciting! She gets to live with her husband! But of course I was being selfish and wondering what I was going to do about a roommate. I mean really, with such short notice?

So I decided to venture on to Craigslist. My mom warned me to be careful, and I found out why way too quickly. After reading ads that claimed "non smoker, 420 friendly" and a man looking for a "female roommate, employed, big boobs" I was getting concerned. Some ads included pictures, many were sob stories of unemployed single moms.. What a cluster. And then I stumbled upon an ad with Mormon in the title. Phew. I quickly responded to the girl who was looking for a female roommate with similar standards, and anxiously awaited her reply. After exchanging a few emails, befriending each other on facebook, and finally meeting her tonight.. I found a new roommate! She seems really cool, and I am really excited to have her move in. I am still really sad that Cary is leaving, but I am also excited for Victoria to move in. She'll be here November 2nd, so I have a few weeks to enjoy some solitude!

food..

2008-09-27T20:51:00.002-06:00

Food is by far one of my favorite things. I grew up with my mom making the most delicious homemade bread.. She is an incredible cook! At Thanksgiving and Christmas, her and my dad make tons of pies.. Cream cheese-pecan being my favorite. They are both really great in the kitchen (and on the grill!), which is a huge reason I have such a deep love for food. Unfortunately, due to enjoying too much food in the past.. I don't let myself indulge as often as I'd like now. Even though I keep my meals pretty healthy now, one thing I love to do is bake. I'm known for my Hersheys Kiss filled cookies, and am always bringing in some sort of treats to the salon.

I've been buckling down on my diet, so treats haven't really been an option for a little while. However, I thought it would be a good idea yesterday to look at some recipe blogs. Okay.. maybe that isn't the best idea when you are abstaining from sugar. But I found myself hooked on a few recipe blogs salivating all over my keyboard..

I added a tab on the side of my blog with links to some of the websites that I love to get recipes from, Recipegirl.com being my favorite. I'm going to be doing a lot of baking towards the holidays so hopefully I'll have some pictures to share. If you have any uber-tasty recipes to share, please let me know!

"marry-weds" party

2008-09-15T22:14:00.002-06:00

Fall is finally here, and I am enjoying the cooler weather. This week is predicted to be in the mid to high 70's, and I love how cold it is at night. Fall is my favorite season for so many reasons, and I am enjoying every second of it.

After all that's been going on, we realized a few weeks ago that we failed to have any sort of bridal shower for Peri. Originally, we were going to have a party for her and Neva sometime this month in Neva's backyard. Well, Betty was still wanting us to come around... so we decided to have Peri's party there. I was a little nervous about being at her house, but it turned out to be a good time. We had a Mexican theme (of course I brought Dorito Casserole) and even had a pinata. For Peri and Jacobs gifts we gave them gift cards to PF Changs and World Market, a chia pet puppy, and 8 boxes of brownies (that's only 4 double batches Peri says..). It was good to have all of the salon girls together having a fun time, it really felt like Neva was there with us. Here's some pictures from the big night.

In other news, I was very lucky to have my friend Kyle staying with me this past weekend. Kyle served his mission here in Denver, and has been home for about 3 months. I met him while he was serving with another elder from Kamas, and I used to cut their hair every 6 weeks. I didn't really know him while he was serving here, but we have become very good friends since he went back to Austin. He actually goes to school with Morgan (my best friend from Pittsburg), which makes me totally jealous that they live so close to each other and I live so far away from them both. I had an a lot of fun hanging out with Kyle this weekend, and feel very fortunate to have him as such a good friend.

Here's a picture of us before I took him back to the airport.

birthday

2008-09-08T21:22:00.002-06:00

I guess I am a little late on the birthday update, I've just been so busy celebrating!! My birthday fun started with a pre labor day dinner at the Moore's.

(For those of you who don't know who the Moore's are.. Kathy Moore and my mom are cousins. When I first moved to Denver I lived in their basement while I found an apartment and waited for Peri to move here. They have taken me in as one of their own, and I love spending time with their family!)

Kathy's son Tommy was turning 32 on the 3rd, so we had dinner at his house to celebrate our birthdays plus labor day. It was fun playing in their brand new backyard, and catching up with everyone. I ended up spending the night at Kathy's because it got so late, and got up the next morning and bought a new DVD player for my room. I'm excited to be able to watch movies in bed now!!

I didn't really have any plans made for my birthday. I don't work Friday's, and I didn't want to plan anything too exciting because I work early on Saturdays. My new and wonderful friend Adam drove down from Arvada, so we ate pizza and watched season 4 of The Office which is one of my favorite shows! For my birthday Adam bought me 3 lotto tickets, and I won $5!! Later that night, my friends Stefen, Karen, and Dave joined us. We had some cake and watched some more of The Office. Then we decided to go see Hancock at the $1 theater. I had heard bad things about it, but I actually really enjoyed it!!

Unfortunately, I didn't return home from the movie with my phone.. I know it was in my pocket during the movie, but it never made it home. We searched the car, I tore apart my apartment, and called the theater several times to see if it had been turned in. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever see that phone again. I bought a new one yesterday, so I am still needing peoples phone numbers.

Saturday we celebrated my birthday for real. A bunch of us went to dinner at Hacienda Colorado. It was soooo much fun! Nearly 20 people showed up and we had a blast. The restaurant is one of many, but that particular location is only a few months old. The food was great, and I loved having a lot of my friends there with me! After dinner Natalie and I went dancing downtown, and had a lot of fun shaking our money makers.

The weekend was awesome, I am lucky to have such great friends and family! Thanks to everyone who celebrated it with me, and mostly thanks to my mom for having me! I love you all!!

here's a picture of me blowing out the candles on the cake Kathy made me. It was brownies frosted with Andes Mints. Delicious!!

Peri, me, Karen, and Natalie. My three best girlfriends in Denver.

Peri with my cake at work. It was from Coldstone. 2 layers of choclate cake, one layer of sweet cream ice cream with cookie dough, and one layer of chocoloate ice cream with peanut butter cups.

Cary (my new roommate), Kenny, and Kyra at Hacienda.

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DNC

2008-08-29T11:15:00.002-06:00

I have been lucky enough to run into some pretty big events so far. I must really know how to be in the right place at the right time because I was living in Salt Lake during the 2002 Winter Olympics, and this year I was in Denver for the Democratic National Convention. I don't live right in downtown Denver, so I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to check out any of the festivities. But to my surprise, I got a call with some very exciting news. John Paul and Eloise DeJoria (the owners of Paul Mitchell, Patron Tequila, House of Blues..) were coming to the DNC and needed hair and make-up for the events they were going to. I was very excited to find out that she wanted my boss, also named Kara, to do her hair.. ME to do her make-up.

After freaking out a little, and an expensive trip to the MAC counter for extra supplies I was feeling pretty good about things. This was kind of an intimidating job, because not only is she a celebrity, but an ex model, and she and her husband own one of the biggest hair companies in the beauty industry.

We first met up with her on Tuesday. Rather than staying in a hotel, they were staying on the Patron Tequila Express, a train car parked outside of Union Station. It was somewhat of a tour bus situation, but way cooler! The it had an India type theme inside. Tons of handcrafted wood, the original curtains, and bottles of Patron EVERYWHERE. I learned that Patron makes like 6 different kinds of tequila, including a Coffee flavored one, and one that costs $500 a bottle! Of course I opted out of tasting any of them, but I did have some lemon cake that was made with Patron and it was delicious!!

Doing her make-up was actually pretty easy. But her skin was basically flawless, and even though she's 51, she looks like she's 41. I ended up doing it 3 separate times. Once for Hilary's speech, once for a breakfast with other female celebs, and once for a private concert hosted by the Black Eyed Peas. She was SO incredibly nice and laid back. She kept asking for fashion advice, told us about her and JP met, talked a ton about her kids.. it really made it easy to not be so nervous! Seeing John Paul running around was kind of surreal. But he was so polite, and made sure that we were comfortable and having fun. I didn't get very many pictures (and none with JP unfortunately!), but here is what I got.

hellogoodbye

2008-08-24T23:32:00.003-06:00

We're going to go for more of a picture book than a novel today.

Here's Peri on Friday. We went to Salt Lake and took pictures so that we wouldn't have to do them all on Saturday. It was a great idea, because we spent about 4 hours downtown! I can't imagine doing that on Saturday.

This is my favorite shot I took of Peri and Jacob. The light was perfect!!

Peri and Jacob in front of the Salt Lake Temple. SO so so beautiful!!

Me and Sam. I am looking haggard after the all day wedding. And Sam isn't wearing make up but she's always gorgeous.

Hailey is getting SO big! She will be 2 in December. I love seeing her when I'm in town.

This is Brady. He was my client in Denver, but now lives in Salt Lake. Isn't he a hottie?

Julianne moved to New York City to become a rich and famous photographer. She is so very talented, and an amazing friend. I am going to miss "J" very very much!!

taking a break

2008-08-13T19:31:00.002-06:00

I'm headed to Utah, again. I feel like I just left, but I am still really looking forward to going. After losing Neva, I am extra appreciative of my family, and my friends. Especially the ones I don't get to see very often.

Peri is getting married on Saturday, which is the whole reason for my trip. Her dress is SO amazing, I can't wait to see her in it. I did her make-up for her bridal photo's a few weeks ago, and the pictures turned out awesome. She is so pretty! I am so lucky to have her here in Denver with me, and have her as my best friend. It's crazy to think of the good ol days at PMTS and Cosmo. When I decided to move to Denver and she brought up coming with, I never in a million years thought she'd actually come. Now a year and a half later, not only did she end up in Denver, but met her fiance here. Totally nuts! Tomorrow night we're going to dinner at Baja Cantina in Park City and having a sleepover at a condo up there. I'm excited! Then the wedding is Saturday morning in the Salt Lake Temple, and the reception is that night in Oakley.

This will definitely be a much needed break. The salon is semi back to normal, or as normal as it can be right now. I'm still having a hard time, but the water works have slowed to a trickle. We have started a fund for a scholarship in her name, and her clients are being so generous. Even people that didn't know Neva. It's cool to see everyone come together over such an amazing person. Here is an article printed in Sunday's paper.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10146118

2008-08-06T23:47:00.002-06:00

The girls got back from Vegas last night, so today was our first day having everyone back at the salon. We all came in early to have a "Foushee Family" meeting, and talk about what's the best way to handle the situation. It's been really hard so far, even before everyone was back. Clients have called because they've heard the news, and many people have called just to schedule appointments with her. It seems so wrong to break the news of Neva's death to her clients. I think they're just as lost as we are, some have even just hung up when they've heard the news. Unfortunately it's going to take awhile before everyone's found out. Even though a lot of people in the area know about the accident, her name wasn't even released until Monday morning. This morning we all cried, a lot. It was hard to be together without her.. I really consider the girls at the salon to be family, and having Neva missing is going to make a huge impact on my daily routine.

They had a memorial service for her tonight, and her funeral and burial will be this weekend in Alamosa which is about 6 hours from Denver. We decided that we aren't all going down for the funeral, but instead will go when they lay her tombstone at her grave. The service tonight was hard. Her family sat in the front row, they all looked as if they were on auto pilot. Some of her extended family spoke, and then Kym and Kara both talked about all of the things we loved about Neva. Kara told this awesome story about how they went to France and took the stairs all the way up the Eiffel Tower and she had to carry Neva on her back to the top. It was great to remember the things we love about Neva. I am so lucky to have known such an amazing girl. She was such an inspiration to me, and I looked up to her.. even though I had to look down to her since she was a full foot shorter than me.

Here's a story that the Rocky Mountain News printed.

Man comes upon fatal accident involving his fiancee

By Hector Gutierrez
Monday, August 4, 2008

Neva Christine Mondragon was expecting to celebrate one of the most memorable days of her life later this year.

The 27-year-old was getting married in October.

On Saturday, she was planning for another big day: her fiance's birthday on Sunday.

But Mondragon was going to Las Vegas on Sunday, so she and another couple decided to celebrate her fiance's birthday on Saturday evening.

She headed out Saturday morning to get her nails done at the beauty salon where she worked, Betty Valdez, her aunt, said. "She left us at 7:30, and we kissed her goodbye."

It was Mondragon's last moment with her family.

When she didn't show up at Salon Foushee and Day Spa in south Jefferson County, her co-workers phoned her aunt.

Her boyfriend, Jose Carlos Maez, was running errands when Mondragon's aunt called him to say she had not shown up at the salon.

Maez decided to look for Mondragon, traveling the route she would have taken south on South Santa Fe Drive.

Perhaps her car had broken down.

Perhaps her cell phone simply was turned off.

When he reached the 5200 block of Santa Fe, Maez came upon a wreck involving three vehicles.

A crushed red Ford sedan belonged to his future bride. She was dead.

"This is what makes it so tragic. He did come upon the accident," Valdez said.

Another driver, Richard S. Hogsett, 36, of Jefferson County, also died at the scene. A third driver, Kelly Joan Horan, 26, was seriously injured and was being treated Monday at Swedish Medical Center.

Littleton police said they think Hogsett, who was driving a Mercedes sedan, was heading in the wrong direction on Santa Fe Drive when his car plowed into a Honda driven by Horan before smashing into Mondragon's Ford.

Hogsett's father was too upset Monday to comment.

Maez proposed to Mondragon last Christmas Eve at the lavish Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. "She was getting married Oct. 18," Valdez said.

Mondragon was born in Denver and attended school in her father's hometown of La Jara in southern Colorado. She graduated from Centauri High School. She then enrolled in beauty school at Emily Griffith Opportunity School, where she earned her cosmetology license in 2002.

Valdez said that she and Mondragon's mother, Ana, own a salon in Cherry Creek, and her niece had followed in their footsteps. Mondragon lived with Valdez in northwest Denver.

"She enjoyed traveling and she loved camping and cooking," Valdez remembered. "She liked to cook and give parties - any kind of outside party - so she could cook and have all her friends over."

In addition to her parents, Mondragon is survived by two brothers, numerous aunts and uncles, and her two grandmothers. Her brother had a 6-month-old nephew who Mondragon just adored, Valdez said.

"She was wonderful, and she had a big, wide smile," Valdez said.

Neva

2008-08-02T18:09:00.005-06:00

Last night as I was driving south on I-25, I passed an accident. It was after midnight and probably caused by someone under the influence. As I passed I looked over to the lights of the cop cars, and the dented in vehicles affected from the crash. The drivers and passengers were close by, staring at the damage caused by the collision. I had a good 20 more minutes of my drive, and being late at night my mind wandered and I thought about how we never know what's going to come at us. I was thinking about how unfortunate it is that we often think, "I'll be happy when..." instead of just appreciating each day we have on earth.

It wasn't until this morning that I realized how my reflections last night would prepare me for the challenges of today. This morning while on her way to the salon, Neva was killed in a car accident. For some reason a car entered Santa Fe going the wrong direction, collided with a car head on, that hit and killed Neva on impact.The driver of the first car was also killed. They don't know why the driver was going the wrong direction, or if he was intoxicated. I saw photos of the scene this afternoon on the news, and they literally made me sick to my stomach.

Most of the girls from the salon are headed to Vegas today, so there were only a few of us working. Neva was supposed to leave for the hair show in the morning, she had delayed her trip until tomorrow because today is her fiance's birthday. Time was moving so slow today... from the time where I got to work and found out she was already an hour and a half late, my client telling me that Santa Fe was closed for an accident, calling her cell phone, receiving the news, and finally breaking down. I have never once seen my boss cry, and as she received the news I watched her eyes over flow with tears. How could it be that "little Neva", only 27 years old, who was engaged to be married in 2 months, was gone? Her empty chair next to me haunted me all day. How will the salon ever be the same without one of our best stylists?

I am going to miss her ridiculously good smelling food in the break room, her extra crazy clients, her amazing blow drying skills, her using a stool the reach the tops of clients heads, her crazy dancing, her little laugh, her being as proud as her nephew as I am of my nieces, parties in her backyard, her taking naps EVERYWHERE, and everything else about her... It's still hard to believe it's real. I think it will take a few days, when the girls are back from Vegas, for me to realize that she's not going to be returning back to work. This is the first death in my "adulthood" that I've really had to deal with. Neva was a constant in my life, I saw her nearly every day and it's hard to picture my life without her in it. Please remember Neva's family, friends, and coworkers in your prayers. We could all use a little extra comfort right now.

Here is a photo from the scene of the accident. The news reports that the after Mercedes SUV hit the first car, it landed on top of Neva's red Ford Sedan.

So so busy!

2008-07-25T18:23:00.007-06:00

Thing have been so hectic that I haven't even had time to write anything for awhile! First and foremost, I have to say Happy Birthday to my Grandma Dianne who is the coolest grandma ever. And not just because her name is my middle name! She is awesome and I don't know what I would do without her! She turned 65 on Wednesday, and spent the whole day at Lagoon with all of her kids and grandkids. And when I say she turned 65 that isn't exactly true, but I will always think she's 65. And I'll always think my mom is 35. I think they're probably okay with that.

My new roommate, Cary moved in last weekend. She is really cool, but she's crashing on the couch for a little bit until Peri gets her stuff moved to Jacobs. Things are going well, she is a really cool girl! She is actually married, but her husband is in the military so she is out here doing Teach For America. It's been fun having her around, I think we're going to have fun together!!

Last weekend was full of birthday celebrations. Friday night was Karen's brother Tommy's 30th birthday. Tommy is special needs, and so so so so fun to be around. He is always asking for girls numbers, and always asking for a pen to write down their number. As a gift some guys from his ward bought him a package of pens, and a little black book they called the "chick-tionary." Here's a picture of Karen and Tommy with the cake, and a picture of me and my friend Stephen who is home from BYU-Idaho right now.

Saturday night the salon girls went out to celebrate Peri and Kym's birthdays. We went to my favorite bar called Rock Bar. I love it because it's never been remodeled from the 70's. Also, they play lots of "old school" music. The dance floor is small so everyone packs on and has a good time. The night "Midnight Madness" was going on, which is a moonlight bike ride. People in Denver are really into fitness, including bike riding. I obviously didn't participate, but there were a million people downtown on bikes! It was so crazy, I've never seen anything like it!!

Other than that, I've just been keeping busy. Work has been jam packed, which is so nice. I love being busy, the days fly by.. and the paychecks are nice! I've been working out a ton still, and I'm really starting to enjoy running. I am so lucky to have such strong legs! I am sure I will feel the same way about my arms.. once they are actually strong! I am about to head out to a wedding reception which will be the first of MANY for the summer. I am so excited for my friends to be moving on and getting married, but it seems so crazy to me! I'll be back in Salt Lake for Peri's wedding so soon, it almost seems surreal.

dress shopping

2008-07-11T12:42:00.002-06:00

I have been shopping for a dress for Peri's wedding for the last month or so, and have been getting frantic about it this last week. Her wedding is just a month away, and I have been stressing out about what I was wanting to wear. Originally I thought it would be fun to find a green dress, but lately I've been trying on just about anything that isn't ridiculously expensive. I went over to Park Meadows today, and FINALLY found one! I have probably tried on close to 100 dresses in the last month, so it was such a relief to find one that I liked. It is black, which is typical of me but it fit right and it's a little more dressy than anything I already have. And since i have about 348576 friends that are engaged right now, I am sure I will get plenty of use out of it.

It was Peri's birthday this week so I whipped up a meal of Dorito Casserole and "chubby brownies" via Peri's request. It was also my friend Chris' birthday so he came over for the feast. We got all caught up on Tila Tequila, and watched part of season three or The Office which is one of my favorite shows. Last year we were in Utah for Peri's birthday and had a joint party with our friend Crob. It's crazy to think that was a whole year ago!!

I have been thinking a lot lately about how things can change so quickly. Thinking back to last summer I had completely different friends, and was still relatively new to Denver. I still wasn't 21 and was counting down the Saturday nights til I could go out downtown. It's just so crazy to me how fast things and people can come into your life....and also how quickly they can leave. I have had a rude awakening lately, I realize that there have been some people that I took advantage of having around. I guess that learning those kind of lessons is part of what life is about, I just wish it wasn't so hard. I don't believe in regrets, but hindsight sure is 20/20. I recently read a quote by Marilyn Monroe that I have been thinking about a lot. It said, "Sometimes things fall apart, so better things can fall together." I guess that just means that good things have to come to an end to open up opportunities for things even better. I know things will fall into place, I just hate the waiting game..

Utah Pictures

2008-07-06T20:47:00.004-06:00

Here are some pictures from Utah that I didn't put with the last novel I wrote.

Harper and I after her blessing

Hailey and I.. she was distracted by the swing set apparently

My Momma. I cut her hair shorter, and now we look the same

Grandma Di, one of my most favorite people on the planet

And this is from Denver, but last night I got to go dancing with my friend Natalie. Her birthday was last Monday and she was very excited to be 21. We hit up a lot of the popular bars/dance clubs in Lodo, and appreciated that we can have fun sober.

Aunt Kara

2008-07-05T19:40:00.002-06:00

There are no words to say how much I love my family! I loved spending time with them in Salt Lake, and can't wait to see them again. I am learning to appreciate how important family is, and must say that I am lucky to have awesome parents, siblings, sibling in laws, nieces, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.

I must say that I have two of the cutest nieces ever. Hailey and Harper are so adorable, and I feel truly blessed to have them in my life. They are so very lucky to have so many people that love them, and to be raised by my wonderful sisters who can teach them the important things our parents taught us. Being able to be there for Harper's blessing was awesome, and a great reminder of how important the Gospel is to our family.

It's crazy how quickly "the little girls" (Carly and Kelly, who are now 14 and 13) are growing up, and how fast our family is expanding! I was able to get a really cool gift for my dad for Fathers day/birthday, I got a copy of The Proclamation To The Family framed, with a picture of my parents and each of my siblings matted around it. Eventually it will have pictures of each of our complete families. It's really cool and I'm telling you about it because it was so big and awesome that I couldn't bring it on the plane so it's sitting in my room all wrapped up! Hopefully it will be to Salt Lake soon and my parents can enjoy it!

I guess I could give a few details of the actual time spent in Utah.. Sam was kind enough to pick me up from the airport, since my mom was still at Girls Camp when my flight got in. We did some shopping and then I went to her house to cut her hair, and ended up doing her moms too. When I finally got to my parents house I spent the afternoon cutting and coloring my mom, Kelly, and Carly's hair. As the weekend went on I also did Chase, Erica, Eric, Grandma, Grandpa, Teresa, and Brady's hair. I also was able to give Hailey her first ever haircut!

I spent the rest of the weekend baking for the blessing, and trying to relax. Monday I got to go to lunch with my mom, grandma, and several of my aunts which was really fun! I also go to see two of my very good friends from high school, Michelle and Tiffany! It had been several years since I had seen them so it was extra special. Saturday while Erica and Tom went to see Tom's grandma, they dropped me at University mall so that I could drop in and see my good friend Adam. I met Adam at 80's night about 3 years ago and we've been really good friends ever since. Monday night I went to dinner with Kyle and Cameron, two of my good friends from Provo. I also got to spend time doing Teresa's hair.. I am doing her hair and make up for her wedding in October, and also for her bridal pictures in August. We also went and got snow cones with her fiance, Shane. I'm really excited that I get to participate in their wedding!

Even though I was in Salt Lake I caught up with two people I had met in Denver. I ran into Steffany from Arvada while I was at University mall, which was unexpected but awesome. And Sunday night I went to Draper to hang out with Brady, who was in my ward here and also used to come into the salon. It was fun to see them in Salt Lake, but definitely reminded me how much I was missing Denver! It reminds me that I am definitely in the right place, and am just lucky that my family is such a short trip away!

coming to SLC

2008-06-25T22:51:00.005-06:00

It's barely been 2 months since I was last in Salt Lake, but I'm headed there again on Friday. Erica, Tom, and Harper are flying in from LA to bless Harper in my parents ward. I am SO SO SO SO excited to meet her! This is the first time my whole family has been together (with the exception of Ty on his mission) since Thanksgiving, and will be the last time until Christmas. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to come out on such short notice but everything fell into place. I'll be there from Friday morning, til Tuesday night. I was trying not to tell anyone I was coming, I get so overwhelmed trying to run so many places while I'm there! But I probably mentioned it to more than enough people so I am sure I will be jam packed with activities and people while I'm there. Not to mention I have 11 people on my agenda to have their hair done. 11! That's like 2-3 full days of work. But it's cool, because I like to keep my family and friends looking good.

Fortunately, I'll come back for work on Wednesday and Thursday, and then I will have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off for the 4th of July. I don't have any plans yet, but I am sure it will include bbq's, fireworks, and hopefully sleeping in! It's pretty awesome when you need a vacation from being on Vacation.

I've had a pretty busy week or so at work since I'm going to be gone next week. All of my clients have been crunching to get in before I leave, or before the holiday. It has been nice being busy because the time has been flying by! Sometimes long days are hard being on your feet all day.. so I treated myself to a pedicure yesterday. It was nice to get off of work and relax, where as most days I head straight to the gym after work.

Okay, so the most random thing happened yesterday/today. There is a gas station on the corner of the end of my street. I always tell people "turn left at the Starbucks/Sinclar station" but yesterday when Peri went over for some peanut butter m&m's and a diet coke it was closed. I didn't really think anything of it because it's kind of a sketchy place.. but today I pull onto my street and there is no signs whatsoever of a gas station. The place is completely demolished. I guess Peri will have to walk a little further for her diet cokes from now on. Nothing with businesses really surprises me any more since the Starbucks popped up within 2 days, and the sushi restaurant next to us changes names on what seems to be a weekly basis...

it's been awhile..

2008-06-15T21:53:00.003-06:00

I guess so far I haven't been very good at updating this. I figure now that summer is here, I should probably keep a little more up on things. Not that summer necessarily means I have more time, but I guess it means that I have a lot more events to report on.

Things have been steadily the same for a little while. Work is going very well! Things are picking up as the weather gets warmer, and I am really enjoying most of my clients. Last month I did a photo shoot with Kara. She did 2 different looks on 4 different models, and I did all of their make-up. It was a really neat experience!

I've been spending a lot of time at the gym, and by a lot I just mean way more than normal. I have been comfortable running on the elliptical, so I decided it is time to step it up a notch. I have started an interval training program on the treadmill, and am doing 5-6 miles a day. My legs are sore ALL of the time, but I know it will get easier. I am still working out with my trainer at least once a week, and can definitely feel my body getting stronger. I am not very flexible, especially my hamstrings from standing all day, so I am going to start taking "hot yoga" on Tuesday nights to try and increase my flexibility and lengthen my muscles.

Other than that I am just staying busy with friends. Peri's wedding is coming up SO soon! I have a new roommate, Cary, who is moving in next month. I met her last week and she seems SO awesome! It is so weird how all of my friends are engaged, but I guess that's what happens when you grow up. I currently know 4 couples getting married August 16th! It's crazy..

I am getting excited to go to Salt Lake at the end of the month! I am going to be able to see a few friends, and lots of family which is nice since it isn't a holiday. I am SO SO SO excited to see Erica's baby, Harper, I wish that I could see her every day! It will be nice to see Erica and Tom too, not to mention a lot of my extended family. Sometimes a trip to Utah doesn't feel like much of a vacation with all of the running around and hair I do, but when I come back I only have 2 days of work before I have 3 days off for the 4th of July. I am VERY VERY excited about that!

Angels & Airwaves

2008-03-04T22:31:00.005-07:00

Monday I got to do something that was a little more exciting than normal. One of my favorite bands is Angels & Airwaves. The band is made up of Tom Delonge (Blink 182, Box Car Racer), Matt Wachter (30 Seconds to Mars), Atom Willard (The Offspring), and David Kennedy (Box Car Racer). So Danielle and I got to go to KTCL and listen to the "Garage Session" which is when the guys talked to one of the DJs and played a few songs before the show. It was SO awesome to hear them live! After the garage session was over, they came and hung out with us and the other listeners. They were so laid back and weren't the least bit arrogant. They were having fun signing autographs, and Atom ended up drawing faces and hats on a lot of the pictures. David seemed to be particularly fond of me, and left me a nice note and picture on my poster. Here are some pictures from the signing..

Tom signing my picture

Atom drawing a Pope hat on himself

David

Matt

David, Matt, Tom, and Atom. Matt wanted to make sure we all knew that he is 4 inches taller than Atom, even though it doesn't look this way in the picture.

2008-02-24T00:53:00.002-07:00

Alright, so I figured that it's about time to hop on the blog bandwagon. I don't have a pregnant belly or cute baby or really anything too exciting to report on like my sisters, but I thought this could be a good way to keep my family and friends updated on life in Denver.