Snow!!!

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!!

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

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

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

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..

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

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

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

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

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!!